Playing Dirty Games
by THE Kid Hardy
Summary: Triple H knows his wife has been cheating on him, but didn't know with whom. When he sees Jewel, a girl he hasn't seen since 1997, he is instantly attracted to her. But there's one problem: her husband is the one Stephanie's cheating with.
1. Chapter 1

**Title:** Playing Dirty Games

**Author:**Krys/Kid Dynamo/THE Kid Hardy

**Main Characters:**Triple H, Jewel (Original Character), Stephanie McMahon, Chris Jericho, Shawn Michaels, Shane McMahon, and anyone else I deem fit to throw in. Who knows? You may even get a surprise.

**Summary:** Triple H knows his wife is cheating on him, with one of his fiercest rivals, of all people. But when he decides to get even and up the ante, feelings come into play, and then they're all trapped inside this dirty game of lust and betrayal.

**Disclaimer:**_Please use this as reference to this and all future chapters. I do not own Paul "Triple H" Levesque, nor do I own any legalities to the names Hunter Hearst Helmsley, Triple H, "The Game", "The Cerebral Assassin", or any other names and/or trademarks that pertain to said character. I do not own anyone under association to the World Wrestling Entertainment, nor am I an employee of the McMahon family. This is simply fiction, entertainment of the literary kind; please do not take offense. All characters are their own property with the exception of Jewel and any others I state in future chapters that are of my own creation. Thank you in advance for not considering legal action._

--

_**March 11, 2010 – 3:25 A.M.**_

Paul Levesque turned over in his bed for what seemed like the fortieth time that night. It was yet another lonely night out on the road, with Stephanie back at their home after having to stay home for an appointment with her obstetrician. He knew that to call his wife so late in the night after spending so much time putting their two daughters to bed would be hazardous to his health.

Sitting up in his bed, Paul ran a hand through his dirty blonde hair and sighed. He loved Stephanie with all his heart, but sometimes she could truly get on his nerves. Falling in love with someone you both worked with and worked for had severe problems at times. There were times where the two of them butted heads over a storyline that Stephanie had wanted him to do that he wanted nothing to do with, and she had held a grudge over it, and caused problems for the two of them at home. Though he gave her credit for never once taking it out on their children, he felt that oftentimes she truly was a Billion Dollar Bitch more in real life than she was on television.

Glancing over at the clock again, the glowing numbers now reading 3:42 A.M. in the darkness of the suite's bedroom, Paul sighed again, rolling his eyes. It looked like tossing and turning in his bed wasn't getting him any closer to sleep; if anything, it was simply keeping him wide awake, and passing the time. He knew that Shawn was already in his own suite, either talking to Rebecca and their children, or saying his prayers or whatever else a 'holy man' like him did at night instead of sleeping or partying like he used to do when Paul had first started out in the company. Most of the company despised him, either because he was married to Stephanie and therefore literally got everything he wanted in the company handed to him, or they hated him because they thought that he expected them to kiss his ass if they wanted to get ahead in the company. Truth be told, he couldn't give a damn about what people thought that he expected them to kiss his ass. He gave up on caring about what they had thought about him ages ago, when they first started talking about him being a politicking bastard behind his back.

Throwing back the covers in disgust, he climbed out of the bed and ran a hand through his hair once more, weighing his options for that night. Since he couldn't sleep, he finally decided upon throwing on some clothes and going for a run to clear his mind. Before his mind was fully decided upon the idea, he was already up and halfway dressed. Shrugging at the action once he realized what he had done, he continued getting dressed, throwing on a pair of sweatpants and one of his specialty 'King of Kings' T-shirt. After pulling his hair into a ponytail, he grabbed his hotel key, his wallet, and was out the door.

--

He had just barely gotten down to the hotel lobby when he spotted her coming off of the elevators. She looked to be barely older than twenty-five, at the most, with a heart-shaped face that resembled a cherub or one of those chibi-things that were mentioned all the time in that anime stuff he watched when he was younger and there had been no wrestling on television. Slender frame, dark brown hair that matched her father's to a T, and clad in a pair of black track pants and baby tee that would have put Trish Stratus' rack to shame.

Jewel Hart…

Though he couldn't stand her father for being a hypocritical prick and a whiny asshole for the whole "Montreal Screwjob" thing that had happened almost thirteen years ago, he couldn't help but notice Jewel had grown up quite nicely over the years. He and Shawn had first lain eyes on her back in 1997, when she had first started appearing at her father's side when he turned heel, but the problem back then had been that she wasn't even old enough for the two of them to even consider trying anything, and Bret would have killed them for trying anything—not to mention what Vince would have done to him and Shawn for pulling some stupid stunt like seducing a kid. It wasn't worth it back then, and they both knew it, which was why they never touched her—not that they hadn't wanted to—they just weren't willing to risk their careers just to fuck with Bret Hart's youngest daughter just to get under his skin.

But she was legal now…and she _was _gorgeous…

Ignoring the dirty thoughts that ran through his head as he looked at the dark-haired youngster and instead concentrating on where he should start running to, when he heard a voice calling him.

"Paul? Paul Levesque?" He turned at the sound of his name, and turned in time to see Jewel walking over towards him, a smile on her face. "You remember me, don't you?"

"Jewel, right?" he greeted with a smile. "I haven't seen you in ages, kid, how've you been?"

Her smile grew even wider. "Pretty badass, if I do say so myself. I gotta say, Paul, you're looking _great_…" He could see her brown eyes sweep over him, evaluating him thoroughly, before traveling back up to his face and lighting up again. "It's been, what, ten years, since we've last seen each other?"

"At least ten, maybe twelve," he admitted, leaning casually against the doorway to the hotel's entrance. "How have things been for you since that Screwjob thing?"

She shrugged. "I grew up with my dad virtually hating Vince for what happened, and I can't say I blame him much. Other than that, I kinda convinced him to teach me how to wrestle, and I kinda got married too…" A blush crept up her face, and she looked down.

Paul couldn't help but notice how cute she looked when she blushed, then angrily stamped the thoughts once more. _Um…does marriage NOT mean anything to you right now?_ he thought irritably, inwardly rolling his eyes. _It didn't hurt to just LOOK; it's not like I'm gonna screw the girl's brains out right about now, I gotta cut myself some slack…_

"Really, you're married?" he asked, raising one blonde eyebrow curiously. "Who's the lucky guy? Anybody I know?"

Suddenly, a dark look crossed her face, and Paul's curiosity increased. "Yeah, you know him alright," she said quietly. "Jericho."

Paul's eyes nearly bugged out of his head. _"JERICHO?" _he asked incredulously, his voice rising in surprise. "Jericho's your husband?"

At his raised tone, Jewel frantically motioned for him to lower his voice, then grabbed his arm and steered him outside. "We should go out for a run together," she said quickly, "since we're both already dressed for the occasion. Besides, it'll keep people from wondering why the hell you're raising your voice."

Paul agreed, and they set off, running together at a leisurely pace. Finally, after what seemed like forever to him, he brought the question up again. He heard Jewel audibly sigh, and she finally slowed her pace until she was walking, and answered with, "Yeah, Jericho. 'Course, you know Jericho's just his stage name, but he's just as every bit Chris Jericho out of the ring as he is in the ring… Or at least, that's the way he appears to me, with the way he treats me and everything…"

"What do you mean, the way he treats you?" he asked cautiously, his voice nearly verging on anger.

"Well Paul, I don't know exactly why I'm telling you all this, but out of everyone here in the company, you and Shawn are the ones I recognize from when I was a kid. But yeah, I guess…there's the naïve hope that somehow I can stop what's going on and try to at least save my marriage."

"What's going on Jewel?" When she hesitated, Paul turned to face her. "Jewel, come on, we're friends, right? I knew you since you were twelve fucking years old, for God's sake. I've probably known you longer than Jericho has, so if there's something bothering you, you've got to let me know. Maybe there's something I can do to help."

She shrugged, accepting his answer. "Like I said, he's acting every bit like Chris Jericho the character, it's hard to distinguish the character from the guy I've been in love with ever since I was a kid." Before he could ask her again what was going on, she admitted, "He's an asshole to me in private, but he hasn't put his hands on me. But sometimes I feel like his criticisms are so much worse than any fist to the face, the way he berates me. It's like sometimes I think he regrets marrying me.

"He's cheating on me, Paul. And I think you know who he's cheating with."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two Disclaimer:** _I do not own anyone who is, was, or ever will be under employment to World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. I am simply a writer, and I own no claim or legal rights over anyone except Jewel Hart, who is of my own creation. Thank you for not pursuing any sort of legal action._

**Author's Note:** _I really appreciate the reviews I've gotten for this story already. You guys really know how to motivate a person; I appreciate it all. So anyway, here's chapter two, and I just figured I've give you guys a bit of a heads-up: I'll be alternating between referring to Paul "Triple H" Levesque as his given name, Paul, and his stage name, "Hunter". Since it's been stated that Jewel knew him when she was twelve years old, back in the late '90s, I have her calling him both Paul and Hunter. I wanted to put this here, so as to prevent anyone from getting confused._

--

As they walked back to the hotel after the brief run, Paul couldn't help but feel his anger mounting even more. How could he have been so damn blind as to not realize that his own wife, the woman who had proclaimed to love him so much, had been cheating on him, and with Chris Irvine of all people? He'd known the bastard had had ulterior motives for coming back to the WWE, and it wasn't just to "save" the WWE fans.

He steered Jewel to the parking lot instead of heading through the double doors leading to the hotel's entrance, with her putting up no complaints. Fishing out his car keys and opening the door, he instructed her to get inside, and he followed suit, putting the key into the ignition and turning the car on. As he pulled out of the parking lot and out into the city streets, Jewel stayed silent. It seemed her earlier revelation had temporarily hindered her ability to speak or hold further conversation, because she said nothing for almost five minutes after he had instructed her to get into the car with him.

Getting frustrated with her silence, he finally spat out, "Well, Jewel, what makes you say that my wife's cheating on me with Jericho? If you want me to believe you, you'd better have some damn convincing proof, because right about now, I'm not above punching a woman."

He saw her eyes widen a bit in surprise, then narrow dangerously. "Watch your step, Hunter," she said coldly. "You put your hands on me, and you might just find yourself severely fucked up, and I'm not just talking about by me."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I completely forgot," he said sarcastically as he stopped at a red light. "I forgot who your father is. What's the matter, is daddy gonna come to his baby girl's rescue if mean old Uncle Pauly puts his hands on her?"

Jewel's eyes grew even colder, and she turned her head away from him to look out the window. "For your information, Paul," she spat, "I know Chris is sleeping with Stephanie, because he practically flaunts it at me every time I'm with him."

Paul's hands gripped the steering wheel, and he nearly slammed his foot down on the pedal the moment the light turned green. "Flaunts it at you how?" he ground out between clenched teeth.

"Subtle hints, sometimes not-so-subtle," she said quietly, still glaring out the window. "When I fuck up at making dinner or something, he'll say something like, 'Oh, Jewel, can't you ever do _anything_ right? Stephanie never burns my dinner when I'm at _her _house', or some shit like that. The only thing I'm better than Stephanie at is wrestling, because I know for a _fact_ that she can't wrestle worth shit. He's already practically told me Stephanie was better in bed than I am…he hasn't touched me in God knows how long…"

Paul's anger was slowly ebbing away, dueling with another emotion: pity. He had known Jewel since she was twelve years old, a happy twelve-year-old kid who had thought the world of her father and had grown up in the greatest wrestling family in the world. She had been born into a family that had been richly ingrained with the passion of wrestling, and had grown up wanting to do nothing but wrestle. Seeing her with her father had been a heartwarming experience every time he'd seen her with Bret. Paul could remember seeing the heartbroken look on Jewel's face, vivid as any nightmare he'd ever had, when Vince had screwed Bret out of the WWF Championship back in 1997, and it had torn him apart even then, knowing that he had been a part of what had caused that little girl so much anguish. But nothing had compared to the hurt in her voice, the hurt caused by her asshole of a husband, who lauded it over her head that he was blatantly sleeping with another woman, and that that woman was better at just about everything than she was. Even though he was hurting himself because of Stephanie's treachery, he could only imagine what Jewel was going through herself, knowing that the only guy she had loved most of her young life looked at her like she disgusted him, and that he took pride in pointing out her inadequacies at every turn.

"Does…does your dad know what Jericho's doing to you?" he asked in a thick voice, completely different from the harsh tone he had used with her earlier. Jewel simply laughed bitterly.

"I can't tell my dear old dad what Chris is doing; he'd kill him," she said quietly. "And, despite whatever he may feel about me, Chris isn't stupid enough to give my dad any reason to get on his bad side. Everything he criticizes me on, he does it in private. Like I said before, his words are worse than any punch to the face. I think I'd actually feel better if he put his hands on me every once in a while, instead of looking at me with so much disdain in his eyes…"

Her voice trailed off, and though she was still looking out the window, Paul could see the single teardrop sliding down her cheek. Once again, the anger welled up inside of him, but this time, it wasn't anger at Jericho screwing his wife. It was the fact that Jericho had hurt this girl so badly, this girl who was so in love with him that she took the abuse in secret, without breathing a word to anyone. He pulled into the parking lot of some random all-night diner, and reached out a hand to touch her shoulder. His touch caught her off guard, making her jump, but when she turned to face him, Paul's heart leapt into his throat.

Those mesmerizing brown eyes were alight with fresh pain, and they were swimming with tears. Not normally a man who was easily swayed by tears, Paul was surprised to feel himself wanting to comfort this girl and keep her safe from everything.

"Hey, why don't we get something to eat?" he finally suggested, through a constricted throat. "It'll help you take your mind off of…off of things for a while."

Jewel looked at him, contemplating for a moment, then nodded her head. "I hadn't eaten anything at all so far tonight, so I am a little hungry," she admitted. "You're right; I could use something to take my mind off of things…" Finally making up her mind, she nodded. "Let's eat."

--

Nearly two hours later, they were emerging back into the hotel from the all-night diner. Jewel had cheered up considerably, and Paul had a sneaking suspicion some of the alcohol that she had consumed had had something to do with it. The two had laughed and joked the entire time, passing the time by playing catch up. The subject of their respective spouses had only come up once more, when Jewel had talked about her wedding to Chris, and how she had said it had been the happiest day of her life when her father had told her that he had finally approved of their relationship during their father-daughter dance. It had been one of the times that she had truly felt that Chris had been happy with her; she had told Paul with a genuine smile on her face.

"Do you have a room booked?" he asked her as they walked through the elevator doors on the parking level.

Jewel shook her head, a smile on her face. "Nah, I was hoping to surprise Chris when I saw you in the lobby," she said to him with a grin. The elevator doors slid closed behind them, and they started to rise upwards. "Don't tell him I'm here yet," she whispered, raising one hand to her lips and blowing through them, her attempt at shushing him.

"If you want, you can room with me," he offered before he could even think about it.

"Yes," she replied before she could even think about it. And again, in yet another decision she'd made before she could even think about what she was doing, she had pounced on him and was kissing him feverishly, and he was kissing her back just as feverishly.

"What floor are you on?" she asked breathlessly, her hands still tangling themselves in his dirty blonde hair. Paul silently pulled her face back to his, turning them around so that he could see the numbers next to the door. He blindly reached out and pushed the topmost button, not caring where the elevator took them.

"We shouldn't be doing this," he protested weakly, yet making no attempt to stop himself from kissing her back.

Jewel grinned at him slyly as the elevator came to a stop at the executive floor, her eyebrows rising in surprise. "Executive suites?" she asked. "I'm impressed, Hunter."

He smirked at him, all his indiscretions vanishing. "Just wait, you'll be even more impressed when you see the room for yourself."

They could barely keep their hands off of one another as they made their way down the hall to Paul's room. Paul reached into his pocket once more and grabbed his card key out, pausing only to swipe the key into the slot, and push the door open, leaning in casually. "Enjoy the view," he said with a sly smirk on his face, watching her eyes light up at the view.

"You always get suites like this when you're on the road?" she breathed, taking in the gorgeous view of the suite. Paul nodded his head and reached up to run a hand through his hair. Jewel watched the minor action, her eyes never leaving his.

"I've always thought that was what made you so irresistible, Hunter," she breathed, walking back over to him. "You were the only arrogant blueblood that I'd always found so appealing, even at twelve years old."

Paul couldn't help but let a smirk cross his face. "Well hell, I can't help it if I'm a sexy bastard," he said arrogantly.

She stopped in front of him and ran her hands through his hair once more, her brown eyes lighting up once more. "Even as a kid, I'd always had dreams of touching you like this."

"But I thought Jericho was the only one you loved?"

"Yeah, he is, but I'm not gonna say that I've never had schoolgirl crushes." Without warning, she pulled him by the hair back down to her and crushed her lips against his, Paul returning the action wholeheartedly.

Suddenly, he found himself hoisting the girl up into his arms and carrying her into his bedroom and placing her on the bed. In a blur of motion, he found himself on top of Jewel once again, only that time the two of them were completely devoid of clothing, and Jewel was brushing her lips against his throat tenderly, nearly driving him insane with want.

He blindly reached for the suitcase next to his bed, he and Jewel still exploring one another hungrily, his hands groping for the small package he knew had to be in there somewhere… With a growl of triumph, he pulled the small condom from his bag and ripped it open quickly, slipping it on one-handed. With his other hand, he held Jewel's slender wrists pinned down to the bed, then pushed into her with a practiced roll of his hips.

Jewel ceased all her motions and arched herself towards him, closing her eyes and moaning contentedly, her mouth slightly parted. Paul remained immobile for a few moments, giving her time to get adjusted to him and his size then withdrew and moved inside her once more.

"Holy Christ almighty," she breathed, her eyes still closed. Paul smirked down at her before releasing her hands, which automatically came to rest on his shoulders, then moved his hands down to grip her hips, and drove into her again, more forcefully than before. His smirk got wider when he saw her eyes fly open in alarm and stare at him incredulously.

"Jericho couldn't have been giving you anything good if you're reacting like _this_," he said with another sly smirk before withdrawing and pushing into her again.

"No no, he wasn't too bad; he always said the problem was that I was a cold fish in bed—_oh my god!"_ she moaned, louder than he had expected her to be, as he started to move in rhythm, creating a furious friction that had her writhing beneath him within moments.

Her eager reactions were enough to give him an ego boost, and he started moving inside of her with a renewed vigor, alternating between slow and sensual and hard and rough, listening and watching her every reaction closely, gauging when she would start getting off.

When the moment finally came, he could feel her tightening all around him, but he did not relent. Instead, he simply yanked her legs higher up around his waist and drove into her relentlessly, his hips moving like pistons, thrusting and withdrawing with blinding speed, causing her to nearly scream as she finally came.

Never one to be outdone, and satisfied that Jewel had gotten her own pleasure, he was free to focus on his own. He grunted as he redoubled his efforts, moving into her quickly, the renewed friction bringing Jewel's arousal up once more. She tore her fingers into his hair, her nails scraping at his scalp, dug her heels into the small of his back, and growled at him to keep going, her words a convoluted mixture of moans, wails, and growls, all of which spurred Paul on, and he was now thrusting and withdrawing from her once-again tightening sheath with blinding speed.

The two of them were now pressed tightly together on the bed, moving together with a frenzied sort of passion. Paul was not relenting for a second, growling as he felt her starting to tighten around him once more, and heard her starting to wail as she came. Spurred on by her second orgasm, Paul's quickly approached, and he gave one final frantic thrust, before exploding himself, filling the condom.

For a moment, the two of them stared silently at each other, both breathing heavily and looking both surprised and apprehensive. Finally, Paul eased his member from inside her snug confines and he moved off the bed quickly and ducked into the bathroom, where he disposed of the condom. When he came back, Jewel was sitting cross-legged on the bed, clutching at one of the pillows she had been grasping earlier in the heat of the moment.

"I can't believe we did that…" she whispered, her eyes wide. "We…I…Paul, what are we gonna do?"

To his surprise and enormous relief, Paul did not feel guilty about what he had done. In fact, he felt justified in sleeping with Jewel, almost as if he had deliberately done it. With a sudden realization, he knew what the two of them had to do, what had to be done in order to get what they truly wanted. He took a seat next to Jewel, who stared up at him, her brown eyes still wide, and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Do you feel bad, Jewel?"

She looked taken aback by the question. "I…what?"

"Do you feel bad about what happened?"

"Of course I feel bad, Paul. I mean…Chris may be a dick to me, but he's still my husband, and I love him. I'm sure you feel the same way about Stephanie."

"Yeah, I love Stephanie, but if she's cheating on me with _your _husband, then I think it's time we evened up the score a bit." Jewel scrunched up her face, looking confused, and Paul had to fight to keep himself from laughing at the cute display. "What I'm saying, Jewel, is that we should hook up. I mean hell, if they're doing it, why can't we?"

"But… Two wrongs don't make a right, Paul."

He shrugged. "Where'd you get that logic, your dad? Listen, you want your husband to stop being an asshole to you, right?" She nodded. "And this is the only way I can think of in order for him to fully appreciate you. You can't get much higher esteem than fucking the top dog in the WWE today, Jewel. The only other options are sleeping with Shane, and sleeping with Vince, which I'm sure neither you nor your dad wants."

Jewel contemplated the idea, screwing up her face once more, and Paul had the sudden vivid image of her writhing beneath him only moments before, and he had to fight to keep his mind on the conversation at hand. Finally, she said, "Can you give me some time to think it over? I want to be absolutely sure I want to do this."

"Take your time." He nodded, then stood to his feet and grabbed his sweatpants and headed out towards the living area of the suite. "In the meantime, it's almost six AM, and I'm dead tired. I'll let you have the bed, and I'll take the sofa. Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

As Paul closed the door behind him, he turned and caught one last view of the bedroom. Jewel continued to clutch at the pillow, the only thing keeping her naked body covered from his view.

Finally, the door closed behind him, and he took a seat on the sofa, curled up, and drifted off to sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three Disclaimer:** _Please use this disclaimer as a reference for this and all future chapters of this story. I make no claims to, nor do I have any legal rights to anyone who is, was, or ever will be a WWE Superstar, WWE Diva, or anyone employed under World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. I am simply a writer, and I own no claim or legal rights over anyone except Jewel Hart, who is of my own creation. Thank you for not pursuing any sort of legal action._

**Author's Note:** _Holy crap, I'm at three chapters already! That's gotta be a new record or something, lol. Anyway, I'm having a ton of fun writing this story; it sort of helps me unleash all the stories I have swirling around in my head that have nothing to do with the other stories that I'm currently writing. By the way, and you'll have to forgive me for the following shameless plug, if you're having any time to kill—and you probably do, seeing as how you're reading this story, LMAO—why don't you take a stop by my profile, and read some of my other fics? I assure you, they're really good if I do say so myself—and I do, lmao—so if you have more time to kill, and you want to read some pretty good stories that have to do with the Hardyz, Chris Jericho, or John Cena, make a stop around my profile on this site and read some of those. Okay, now that that's out of the way, on to chapter three!_

--

When Jewel awoke the next morning, she was greeted by the appetizing smell of breakfast sausages, waffles, and scrambled eggs. Her stomach growled appreciatively, and she could literally feel her mouth watering at the smells wafting through the bedroom around her. She sat up in the spacious, king-sized bed and stretched, feeling her still muscles ease out, one by one.

It was then that she realized what she had done the night before.

Her eyes widened in realization. _I slept with Hunter…_she thought to herself, and almost immediately, dual emotions ran through her. She felt guilty that she had done such a thing, slept with a man she hadn't seen in person since she had been twelve years old and cheating on her husband, but on the other hand…she felt liberated, almost as if a weight had been lifted off her shoulders and replaced by the gentle kiss of a silk shawl.

At that exact moment, the door that lead to the bathroom opened up, and Paul stepped out, clad in only a towel, with another one drying his damp hair. He glimpsed over to the bed, where Jewel lay, clutching the sheets around her still-naked body, and smirked.

"Well good morning to you, too," he said with another sly smirk crooking the corners of his mouth.

"Uh…m-morning…" she stuttered, two bright pink spots appearing high on her cheeks. The image of him above her the night before crept into her mind, and though she had been drunk as hell when it happened, she had a vivid memory. The mere image that had crept into her head had been enough to turn her an even brighter shade of pink, and Paul chuckled.

"Embarrassed, are we?" She nodded curtly, looking down at the sheets. "Don't worry; if it's any consolation at all to you, I really enjoyed myself…and I'm sure you had no complaints whatsoever."

Her face then actually _did_ turn red, bringing Paul to laugh once more. "I take it you haven't had many sexual encounters, have you?" he asked, sitting next to her on the bed and clapping a hand on her shoulder. "If you play your cards right, Jericho needn't ever know, and we can go on our separate ways…unless you thought more about my idea?"

"I'm not sure if that's such a good idea, Paul," she mumbled, looking down, her face still red, this time from humiliation more than embarrassment. Paul simply nodded, running a hand through his still-damp hair. "I mean…you know I enjoyed it—trust me, I _really_ enjoyed myself—but I don't think that revenge is the best way to get what we want out of our spouses."

"And what exactly do you want out of Jericho, Jewel?" Paul asked, suddenly serious. "Do you want him to stop sleeping with my wife, or do you want him to see you for the true woman you are?" He then stood to his feet, and moved over to his gear bag, grabbing out fresh clothes for his trip for that night's RAW house show, turning his back to her. "You know what I think?"

"What?"

"I think that Jericho still sees you as a little kid, Jewel." He turned back around to face her, his brown eyes meeting her own. "He sees you as this little girl that he's known since he came to train at the Hart family house, the runt of the Hart family, that he's free to pick on at his leisure, and nobody is going to do a thing about it." He then made his way over to the bed and kneeled down so that he was looking her dead in the eyes. "From what you've told me last night, Jericho needs to get a slap in the face from reality, and see that you're not that little girl he knew from so many years ago. I found that out for myself last night. I think it's a really good idea, Jewel, but I won't pressure you into it."

He then stood to his feet, turned his back on her once more, and abruptly dropped the towel, revealing his bare ass. Jewel's eyes widened at his abrasiveness, then remembered exactly who it was that was standing in front of her. It was Hunter Hearst Helmsley, the man who made vulgar, innuendo-filled promos when he was a part of D-Generation-X with Shawn Michaels, Chyna, and the New Age Outlaws. She quickly dropped her gaze, quelling the instant urge that had sprung up within her to take a bite out of his luscious backside. Still clutching the sheet around her almost like a protective shield, she stood up and backed away into the bathroom, grabbing up her strewn about clothes on her way, once again squashing down the urge to sink her teeth into his ass.

She closed the door behind her and locked it quickly, so as not to give herself any excuses to go back into the bedroom and deal with Paul before she absolutely had to. She dropped the sheet, letting it pool around her feet, then turned on the showerhead, and stepped into the stall, moaning contentedly as the hot water rained down over top of her. She dropped her head and closed her eyes, letting the heat envelop her and take away the rest of the stiff and aching in her sore muscles.

As the hot water cascaded down her body, she took note of each and every sting that her body reacted too, contributing them all to the night before. She still could not believe that she had completely lost control of herself that night, allowed herself to be so vulnerable with a man she had not seen in person in almost ten years, and just threw herself at him! Paul Levesque was a gorgeous man, she had to admit, and knew how to please a woman, that was for damn sure, but she was _married_, for God's sake!

_Oh, so you're supposed to play the dutiful housewife and play little miss innocent, while Chris goes off and fucks Stephanie whenever he wants?_ A voice taunted in her head. Instantly, Jewel's motions ceased, and she stayed still, arguing with herself in her head.

Of course I'm not some dutiful little housewife! But Chris is allowed to do whatever he wants…

_Including cheating on you? Fucking some random bitch and treating you like crap whenever you do something he doesn't like? What the hell is wrong with you, Jewel?_

What do you mean?

_I mean, take a look at yourself. You're the daughter of the greatest technical wrestler in the world, his youngest daughter, the one he took on the road with him all the time because your passion for wrestling nearly rivaled his own. When you first met Chris Irvine, you never once considered that you were going to fall for him, and he was a perfect gentleman to you. Years later, you've gone and settled down…well he hasn't. If anything, marriage has made him even bolder. He won't touch you anymore, he criticizes and puts you down every chance he gets, and most of all…he's sleeping with another woman and flaunting it in front of you? Why aren't you entitled to have some fun? Are you weak?_

Jewel had to fight to keep the angry tears that were forming in her eyes from spilling down her face. I'm not weak!

_Really?_ The voice taunted again. _Seems to me like you are. You've completely lost who you are the moment Chris stepped into your life. What happened to that girl who never swore to lose her identity to anyone, no matter how much she loved them? Have you grown so accustomed to being Mrs. Christopher Keith Irvine that you've lost sense of who you are? Are you his little puppet, afraid to stray from his whim for even a second, because you fear his reaction?_

--

Within five minutes' time, Jewel was finished showering and was striding out of the bathroom in a towel, her dark brown hair hanging damply around her shoulders. She strode into the bedroom, where Paul was removing the lids from trays of food for breakfast, and pulled him to his feet. She looked him dead in the eyes, and allowed three words to escape her lips.

"Let's do this."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four Disclaimer:** _Please use this disclaimer as a reference for this and all future chapters of this story. I make no claims to, nor do I have any legal rights to anyone who is, was, or ever will be a WWE Superstar, WWE Diva, or anyone employed under World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. I am simply a writer, and I own no claim or legal rights over anyone except Jewel Hart, who is of my own creation. Thank you for not pursuing any sort of legal action._

--

After a silent breakfast between the two of them, with the occasional breaking of the silence to talk about what each had done in the ten to twelve years since they had last seen one another, Paul stood to his feet, clearing his throat. "Do you have everything you need before I, uh…take you back?" he inquired, then instantly regretted it.

Jewel had stiffened up, and a closed look had come across her face. "No, I should be fine from here," she said quietly, then stood to her feet as well. She went to move away to grab her bags, avoiding Paul's eye, and he noticed. He reached out, immediately grabbing her wrist, making her glance up at him sharply.

"Jewel, don't take that the way it sounded," he said, looking down at her. "It's just that I'm not exactly used to being like this with someone, especially someone I've known since they were a kid."

She gave him a half-smile. "Don't worry about it Pauly," she said with another smile, reaching up and patting his cheek. "I'm a big girl; if the need calls for it, I can take care of myself."

"And what if your husband finds out about last night?"

"Let him."

"Atta girl." She gave him a smirk, then turned back to him and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Just to be sure, I want to get our story straight. I'm not expecting him to give a damn that I showed up or anything, but just in case, I just want to…you know…" She shrugged the rest of her answer, but Paul got her meaning just the same.

"Don't worry about that. Jericho's a late riser. He's like I am; go for a late night run, come back to the hotel, shower, and go to bed. Either that or he'll go for an early run, and come back, shower, and go eat breakfast. I'll walk you down to his room, how about that?"

"That'd be great, thanks, Paul." Without any further ado, she gathered up her things, grabbed her suitcase and gear bag, and followed him out of the posh suite and down the hall.

As the two walked down the halls towards the elevator, Paul looked over at the younger woman, spotting her staring over at him. She caught his eye and looked away, her cheeks gaining a bright pink. He turned his attention back to the light at the top of the elevator, another sly smirk touching his face. He knew what she was thinking, and why she looked away from him so quickly.

The truth was, he hadn't felt anything for so long for any woman other than Stephanie, and Paul knew that Jewel had felt the same way with him. He'd known she'd had a crush on him when she was a little girl, and she had been very well built for her age, but he hadn't been about to risk his rising career back then, nor was he about to risk going to jail, to satisfy some dirty little urge. But after the events of the night before, he thanked his lucky stars that he had waited to satisfy his urges, and that she had grown up so damned well. The younger woman, what she lacked in age and experience, definitely made up for it in enthusiasm passion. He could still feel the bruises on his shoulders from when she clawed at them as she came apart with him buried deep inside her, and he liked the feeling. Though he loved Stephanie and their children, he hadn't felt that way with her in a long time, and it felt good to have a woman come for him again, instead of scoffing at him when he wanted some affection.

For Jewel, it was a surreal experience, sharing the elevator with Paul, acting so casually around him, when on the inside, she was screaming to be alone with him back in his bedroom. Part of her wanted to jump on him again, to feel the way he had made her feel the night before, while the other part of her, her more rational part, was pleading with her, fighting with her to stay where she was. She had already committed infidelity once, what the hell was she doing thinking about sleeping with Paul _again_? Two wrongs didn't make a right, and she was only making things worse!

The elevator finally lurched to a stop on the first floor of the hotel, and Paul motioned for Jewel to leave the elevator first. She stepped off before him and he followed, his eyes wandering down to her swaying backside. His mouth watered, and he had to repress the urge to throw her up against the closest wall and fuck her brains out again.

The tension was thick between the two of them, though they tried to keep things casual between them, talking lightly and laughing at the occasional joke, musing over storylines that Paul had been obligated to take a part in because of his connections to the McMahon family, Jewel trying her hand at wrestling and playing in a rock band, and other things of that nature.

"Wait a minute, wait a minute," Paul interrupted when Jewel told him about her hopes of rock stardom. He held up a hand, stopping her mid-sentence. "You're seriously standing here right now, with a straight fuckin' face, and telling me that you really want to be a rock star?"

"Yeah, I wanna be a rocker, what's so funny about that?" she demanded, her cheeks tinting a light pink as Paul roared with laughter. "WHAT?"

"Nothing," Paul said once he'd calmed down from laughing, wiping tears from his eyes. "I would have thought that you'd be following in your dad's footsteps and trying your hand at wrestling, that's all."

"Well, I've always had that as a first priority, because being a Hart and being involved with wrestling was virtually a given," Jewel said back, the pink tint in her cheeks reddening slightly. She ducked her head down and mumbled, "Ever since I was a little kid, that was literally all I ever wanted to do, was live up to my dad's reputation in the wrestling ring. I look at my cousin Nattie over on SmackDown with Harry and Tyson, and I'm so jealous. I want all that for myself; I want to put on the show of a lifetime for the fans, and make my dad proud. Up until I met Chris, that was all I ever wanted to do. Just seeing my dad so happy and proud of me, the way he is of my cousins…I crave that, Paul. In a way, he's much harder on me than he was on Nat, Harry, and Ty, because I'm his daughter, and the only one out of my brothers and sisters that actually went on to try their hand at wrestling. But I don't mind it; my grandpa was hard on him, and look how he turned out. I guess…I've always had the naïve hope that, if he treated me the same way, that I would, in time, become as great as or as respected as him. But yep, those are my two passions right there, darlin'…wrestling and music. Feel free to laugh at me now." She put her head down in submission, her cheeks reddening even more in humiliation, waiting for him to make fun of her.

Instead of laughing at her, Paul could feel himself sympathizing with her. He laid a hand on her shoulder, and when she looked up at him, he smiled down at her. "I can't laugh at that, Jewel. Come on, I'm not gonna make fun of you for wanting to live up to your father's reputation. If anything, I think it's pretty damn admirable."

Her eyes lit up in wonder. "You do?"

He nodded, then frowned. "Of course I do. Doesn't your husband?"

She shrugged. "I don't even think he cares what it is I do, as long as it reflects back on him in a positive light." She then turned to start walking again, then froze where she stood, her brown eyes widening in horror.

Paul stopped too, frowning at her. "Jewel?" he questioned, looking to see what had her so horrified, when he saw it too.

Chris Jericho was walking towards them, his eyes glaring at the two of them standing there together in the hallway.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five Disclaimer:** _Please use this disclaimer as a reference for this and all future chapters of this story. I make no claims to, nor do I have any legal rights to anyone who is, was, or ever will be a WWE Superstar, WWE Diva, or anyone employed under World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. I am simply a writer, and I own no claim or legal rights over anyone except Jewel Hart, who is of my own creation. Thank you for not pursuing any sort of legal action._

**Author's Note:** _Happy summer, everyone! Sorry it's taken me so long to get this out, but I lost just about all the files I hadn't backed up on my flash drive when my old laptop died, including the latest chapter I had been working on for this story, "Playing Dirty Games". I went about a month or two without any laptop, and had to go into school to use the computers there (which are extremely SLOW, by the way), so I couldn't work on this story like I'd wanted to. Thankfully, I got a new laptop around the middle of June, so I should be good to go. I've been watching older videos of Triple H, which renewed my liking of him, so this chapter should hopefully be more enjoyable to true to the original idea I had for this chapter, if that makes any sense, lol. Anyways, enjoy, and sorry about the delay!_

Jewel could only stand where she was, rooted to the spot, pure horror washing over her at the scene before her. Her husband, Chris, was headed right towards where she and Paul were standing, his blue eyes growing colder and angrier with each step he took. She could hardly dare a glance to her left to see Paul's face, for fear of what Chris would interpret the gesture as, so she simply took a deep swallow down her suddenly dry throat, and switched her expression to what she hoped was an impassive look as Chris drew even with them.

"Well well well, what's all this?" he asked softly upon reaching them. Chris glanced back and forth, from Jewel's poorly disguised, expressionless face, to Hunter's look of absolute boredom. "Jewel, what are you doing here? And with Hunter, no less?"

Jewel tilted her chin up, in an attempt to look Chris dead in the eye when she answered, but upon meeting his piercing blue gaze, her resolve wavered, and she dropped her head again. "I just wanted to surprise you before you headed out to the RAW house show later today," she mumbled, keeping her gaze down.

Chris watched her expression closely, quirking one golden eyebrow in curiosity, before switching his attention to Hunter, who still looked bored. "Really? Is that so?" When she nodded, he continued on with, "Well then, why are you with Hunter?"

Two pink patches suddenly formed on her face, and Paul could see that she was quickly losing her nerve, as well as losing the lie that they had come up with. "We ran into each other coming up from the lobby," Paul interjected over Jewel's stammers, drawing Jericho's attention back towards him. "I offered to walk her up here and meet you."

Chris' eyes narrowed suspiciously, and he turned his gaze back towards Jewel, whose cheeks tinted an even brighter shade of pink. "Is that true?" he asked her. Jewel nodded meekly.

"I just wanted to surprise you," she said quietly, "I had originally come here last night to surprise you, but I know you hate surprises, so I was going to wait in the lobby until you came down for breakfast. But then I ran into Paul, and we got to talking, and he offered to let me sleep in his room since it was so late, and you hate being interrupted so early in the morning. He told me that he'd even walk me down here to meet you, since he was headed this way himself."

To both Paul's and Jewel's surprise, Jericho reached out his arm and yanked Jewel over to his side, away from Paul. She looked up at him to see his eyes were narrowed to near slits, glaring in Paul's direction. "Chris, what…?"

"I don't want you hanging around him, Jewel," Jericho said angrily, still glaring at Paul, who was now smirking arrogantly at him. "I'm sure you're aware that he and I don't exactly get along, not to mention that he despises your father. Who knows what a pompous ass like him would do to a girl like you in order to get to someone else."

"But…Chris, he was a perfect gentleman to me all night," she protested.

"It'll start out that way, but trust me, Jewel, he'll end up using you and hurting you, all in order to get what he wants." Jericho shoved Jewel behind him, and continued to glare at Paul.

Paul, however, simply held up one hand. "Easy there, tiger, I'm not here to steal your wife. I was simply walking her down here to your room, since it's on the way to Shawn's suite. I'm sure you know that his room is right next to yours, so I figured I may as well kill two birds with one stone, and just accompany the kid down here. I'm sure Jewel doesn't have any complaints with the way I treated her, do you Jewel?" Jewel looked up to see Paul's brown eyes on her, and nearly forgot how to breathe.

Her cheeks heated up again, and she mumbled a "No", just low enough for the two men to hear. Paul smirked again, and continued on his way down the hall, pausing long enough to bid the two of them adieu, then went down to Shawn's room.

Once the door to Shawn Michaels' hotel room closed shut, Jericho whirled around to face Jewel. She nearly cowered at the look of fury on his face. "I'm going to say this one time, and one time only, Jewel," he snarled. "Stay away from him. He's bad news, and he wouldn't hesitate to use you to get to me."

"I don't want to talk about Paul," she whispered. Gathering up her courage, she then stepped closer to her husband, and stood on her tiptoes to press a small kiss against his lips. "I'm more concerned about you and me, and why we're still standing outside your hotel room."

For a brief second, Jericho allowed her to kiss him, briefly returning it before grabbing her arms and pushing her away. "Oh please, Jewel, don't start with this," he sneered, turning away from her and fishing through his jeans for his card key. "Get a grip on yourself, for God's sake. Don't throw yourself at me like a whore just because you're a little hard up for some cock."

"Fine, have it your way," she said huffily, crossing her arms and waiting for him to unlock the door to his suite. He simply turned and arched his eyebrow at her again, but she deliberately ignored him, waiting for the moment when he finally opened the door and allowed her to enter first. Jewel wheeled her suitcase in first, thanking her lucky stars that he was at the very least chivalrous if nothing else, and parked it near the opposite end of the room, then turned to face her husband.

Chris stood in the middle of the room with his back to her, already in the process of stripping his shirt off. Though he was cruel to her and treated her like garbage, she couldn't deny that she was still very much in love with and attracted to the man she had given her heart to. She also couldn't deny that, while Paul had had the better, more fit and toned body, Chris' torso was much curvier and more toned to fit hers, perfectly designed to cradle him in her arms and between her legs, perfectly designed to fit every single contour of her body. She couldn't help but stare in awe at his tanned back and torso, and reached out a hand to touch him longingly.

Instantly, he jerked away from her, but that didn't stop her. Instead of reaching her arm out to touch him again, she simply pressed herself against his back, running her hands up the tender flesh, before pressing a tender, loving kiss against his spine.

Chris shuddered, and Jewel rested her cheek against his back, closing her eyes contentedly. It was times like those that she loved her husband most, despite the fact that he treated her like shit. She knew all of his weaknesses, and the moment she exposed one of them to him, he gave in to his darker urges. "Chris, I missed you so much," she whispered, pressing another feather-light kiss in the same spot. "I know you hate being surprised, but it's just been so long since you've been home, I had to see you… Didn't you miss me too?"

Quick as a flash, Chris had whipped around and pinned her against his chest. His lips claimed hers in a hard kiss, hard, demanding lips meeting soft, unresisting ones, and Jewel yielded herself to him, giving up everything into his kiss. Chris scooped her up into his arms, wrapping her legs around his waist, then carried her into the suite bedroom, lowering her onto the bed and pinning her to the mattress with his weight.

"So you missed me, huh?" he whispered, pressing his groin between her legs until it nearly hurt, watching her close her eyes and whimper in submission, capturing her lower lip between her teeth as she tried not to moan her need. A smile crossed his face, and he pressed his lips to hers once more, starting to pull the fabric of her pants down her trembling thighs.

Paul could hardly reign in his temper, hearing the sounds of the bed smacking against the wall, nor could he stand to hear Jewel's moans of pleasure, knowing that it was her husband, the very same man who had been sleeping with _his_ wife, who was causing her to moan like that.

Part of him wondered why he cared so much about Jericho having sex with Jewel. He'd tried to rationalize it with claims that he only cared because it was like he was looking out for his kid sister, but deep down, he knew that he was only lying to himself. Whatever had happened between himself and Jewel Hart the night before, it had been something worth remembering, and it had jump-started his plan for ultimate revenge against the woman who had betrayed him the most.

"Jeez, Paul, you look like you're ready to go out and beat the ever lovin' tar out of somebody," commented his best friend, Shawn Michaels, who sat across from him in a sofa that faced the television. "I'm guessing it has something to do with what's going on next door?"

"What? N-no," Paul stammered, but he knew that Shawn could see right through him. Despite that fact, he still tried to lie his ass off. "Nah, man, it's just crap with Stephanie. You know her, she gives me grief over the tiniest things, and it drives me insane."

Shawn nodded his head in acknowledgement. "You do have a point there. But you're still full of crap. Bull crap, in fact. And I know a lot about bull crap; I come from Texas. So spill; what's got you so upset?"

"It's nothing, Shawn, really."

Shawn gave him a look, his blue eyes growing stern. "You _do_ know that lying is a sin, don't you?"

Shaking his head, Paul sighed. "I know, but what's that got to do with anything?"

"I can tell when my best friend is lying to me. It's all over your face. So, tell me the truth, or forever burn in Hell!" When Paul looked at him with one eyebrow raised, Shawn grinned sheepishly and shrugged his shoulders. "What? I can't help it if that came off a little dramatic. I must have been born to be an actor."

"You're such a drama queen. Sometimes I wonder if this whole 'holy man' thing is an act too." Rolling his eyes and shaking his head, Paul finally decided to give in. "Okay, so you know Bret's been bringing his daughter Jewel on the road with him every so often, that much is obvious. Unfortunately, I haven't been paying that much attention, because I just saw her for the first time in _ages_ last night. And she looked _great_, Shawn."

Michaels merely nodded again. "Go on…"

"Well, she spotted me, and we started talking, playing catch up and what have you. Well, she told me that in the time we've last seen her, she grew up rather nicely, training to become a wrestler, and getting married to Jericho." When Shawn nodded yet again, Paul continued on. "Well, that all sounds well and good, right? Wrong."

Shawn's brow furrowed in confusion. "What could be wrong with that? From what you told me, it sounds like everything should be going great for her."

"He's cheating on her, Shawn. With _my wife, _of all people."

Shawn's jaw dropped, and his blue eyes widened in alarm. "WHAT? No, Stephanie wouldn't cheat on you. After all the crap you guys went through from Vince, Shane, and Linda just to start dating, why would you think she would do something like that to you? That's not like her."

"I don't know. I asked Jewel what made her think that Steph was cheating on me, and she told me that Jericho literally fucking flaunts it at her every single time she does something that isn't to his liking. He's literally telling her that Stephanie is better than she is at every single thing, and she doesn't do a thing to stop him from doing it."

"But wouldn't she talk to Bret about the things Jericho does? Don't get me wrong or anything, but since that's his daughter, you would think that she would go to him for advice on what to do, or at least how to stand up for herself when Jericho's not treating her right."

"That's another problem, Shawn. Her father doesn't see the way Jericho treats her; he only sees the side of the person he knew from when Stu trained him in the Dungeon. And Jewel wouldn't go to him either; she loves Jericho too much to sic her daddy on him." Shaking his head once again, Paul sighed. "I don't get what she sees in him, Shawn, I honestly don't."

Shawn patted his friend's leg. "Who knows; it's probably the blonde hair, those baby blues, or even the rockstar persona. But then again, she's known him since she was little, right? She probably sees the side she saw from when they used to hang out together at the Hart house. But whatever the case, it's none of our business to get involved, even if it is Jericho and Jewel we're talking about."

"The hell it isn't my business, Shawn. That bastard's sleeping with my wife."

"So what are you going to do about it, huh? Confront them on secondhand information you got from Jericho's deluded wife?"

"WHAT?" Paul growled, shooting to his feet and glaring down at Shawn.

Shawn instantly put his hands up in defense. "Calm down, Paul. I'm trying to see things from all points of view here; it comes with being a holy man and whatnot. Anyway, if you come to Jericho and Stephanie flatout with these accusations, they're going to laugh at the two of you and make you out to be idiots."

"So what are you saying? To just let them keep fucking around behind my back, and to continue going on about my life like I'm totally fucking oblivious?"

"No, I'm saying to keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Play the game with Stephanie, and eventually all the cards will fall into your hands." Shawn then stood to his feet, walked over to Paul, and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Look man, I can't pretend I know what you're going through with Stephanie, because I haven't really had much experience with the whole infidelity thing, and when I did, I was usually the one committing it. I'm just telling you to make sure you have all the facts before you go around accusing anyone of anything."

Hearing the escalating moans in the suite next door did nothing to help his mood, but Paul simply nodded his head in understanding. "I got you, Shawn. I may not like it, but I'll listen to you and play things through, see how they unfold. I just hope and pray for their sakes that Jewel's lying through her teeth. That way, I won't have to kill two people and answer to Vince as well as the cops."

In the early months of their marriage, after such a passionate lovemaking session with Chris, Jewel would fall asleep in her husband's arms, listening to the sounds of his heartbeat and his voice as he would sing lullabies to lull her. Now, after nearly three years of marriage, Chris had changed. He no longer sang her to sleep, nor did he hold her in his arms. In fact, literally as soon as he'd come inside her, he was off of her and moving away to the other side of the bed. The first few times it had occurred, it had really hurt her feelings, but she'd learned to hide the pain it caused her, enduring the hurt only after he'd left the room to shower and change.

This time was no different. She had woken up to reach for him, aching to have him touch her once again, her fingers found nothing but air. She sat up in the bed, covering herself with the sheets and looked around for Chris, finding him sitting at the foot of the bed, freshly showered and pulling his clothes on.

"Chris, what are you doing?" she asked. "I thought that you could just—"

"You thought wrong," he said shortly, standing to his feet to pull his jeans up his muscular legs. "I'm going to go give The Duke a call about some new material I've written."

Feeling the familiar hurt sweeping through her, Jewel simply nodded and lowered her head, feeling the tears starting to form in her eyes. _I won't cry in front of him, I WON'T cry,_ she told herself, but deep down, she knew it would do no good. Back home in Tampa, where there was nothing but an empty house to keep her company, she could block the pain until Chris had left the room, but this time, she couldn't keep her emotions bottled up. It was all she could do to stop herself from yelling out loud at him, screaming at him and hitting him and telling him that she'd had better the night before with the very same man he'd just warned her to stay away from, but instead she just remained where she was, her head lowered, silently letting the tears fall down her cheeks.

Hearing the silence behind him did nothing to help Jericho feel better. He hated having to resort Jewel to this sort of cruelty, especially with how deeply she was in love with him, but it had to be done. He sighed briefly, then turned around to look at her. Jewel remained sitting where she was when she had woken up, her dark tresses tousled and her skin flushed from the frantic fucking she'd received minutes earlier, and her eyes were downcast, not looking him in the eyes. Taking in the sight of her, one would naturally assume that she'd just been well fucked, but Chris knew that she was hurt by him. The thought of that brought an unknown pang of guilt into his chest, and he sighed again, before reaching a hand out to rest upon her clenched fist.

"Hey."

She didn't give the slightest inclination that she'd heard him, but he could tell she was listening. "I was thinking…maybe after I talk to Rich or whatever, maybe the two of us could go…hang out somewhere?"

"No thanks," she said in a quiet voice, an now unreadable expression on her face. She still hadn't lifted her gaze to meet his. "I'm sure you have more important things to do than hang out with someone like me."

Chris then turned his body fully around to face hers, then took his right hand and used it to tilt her chin up until their eyes met. "Maybe, but I _want _to spend my time with you."

There it was. That tiny flicker of hope in her eyes, bringing them back from a dull, lifeless brown, to an almost gleaming chocolate color. "Really?"

"Come on, Jewel, cut me a little slack here. I know I'm busy and all, but I don't want to cut you out of all my plans. I mean, you are my wife and all, and we should do more fun stuff together. What do you say?"

"_Yes!"_ she squealed, jumping up and throwing her arms around him, kissing him fully on the mouth. "Oh, Chris, you're the best! We'll have a shitload of fun, just you wait! Holy shit, I have to get ready!"

Bouncing out of bed with all the energy of a twelve-year-old girl, Jewel pranced around the room, grabbing fresh clothing from her suitcase and flitting into the bathroom to shower and change. Chris could only watch her with amusement, glad that she was finally done with playing the victim for the moment.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six Disclaimer:** _Please use this disclaimer as a reference for this and all future chapters of this story. I make no claims to, nor do I have any legal rights to anyone who is, was, or ever will be a WWE Superstar, WWE Diva, or anyone employed under World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. I am simply a writer, and I own no claim or legal rights over anyone except Jewel Hart, who is of my own creation. Thank you for not pursuing any sort of legal action._

**Author's Note:** _Sorry for the lag in posting; I've been working on this chapter for ages, but got lazy over my Winter Break from school. Now that the new Spring semester's started, and I'm officially busy again, hopefully I can get some more stuff posted on this. Thanks to everyone who's reviewed so far and been so patient with me; here's the latest chapter!_

_

* * *

_

Jewel couldn't help but wear a genuinely happy smile on her face as she leaped into the shower. For once, Chris had been the one to suggest that the two of them spend some time together outside of the bedroom, instead of her, and hope blossomed inside of her. Maybe now she wouldn't have to go through with the plans she and Paul had agreed upon just that morning.

Almost instantly, Jewel's hands froze in her hair mid-shampoo. _Hunter._ _What am I going to do about Hunter?_ She felt a pang of guilt whenever she thought about the previous night's events, for enjoying what she'd done with Paul when she should have been spending the night with her husband. Though she hated Stephanie for what she'd done to her, she still couldn't help but feel guilty about agreeing to Paul's plans for revenge against their respective spouses. The idea of pretending to be involved with Hunter right under Chris' and Stephanie's noses was enough to sicken her, not to mention that she had a feeling both people would go directly to her father with the information. It wasn't anything personal against Hunter; she'd still considered him a close friend; a brother almost, but it wasn't something that she'd willingly wanted to do, even if she did want Chris to be hers and hers alone.

Almost immediately, an image of Chris' disgusted face popped up in her mind, and she froze again, her eyes going wide. _"Look at you,"_ came a voice that sounded almost completely identical to that of her husband's. _"You can't even make a simple decision without reneging on it, Jewel. I swear to Christ, I never had a problem getting a solid decision out of **Stephanie**. Maybe that's why I go to her to get everything I need; she can actually make up her mind when it comes to something. Unlike you, she isn't a coward and isn't afraid of a hard decision."_

Jewel's hands fisted in her hair, and her eyes narrowed in anger. _I CAN make up my mind and make solid decisions!_ She thought indignantly, before giving a small yelp of pain, finally realizing that her clenched hands had caused her fingers to dig painfully into her scalp. There mere thought that Stephanie McMahon, who already had everything a woman could want in life and more, was happy sleeping around behind Hunter's back with _her_ husband, was enough to make the young woman's blood boil. She'd admittedly take partial blame for the reason their marriage went downhill so quickly, but she wasn't going to stand by and watch it die, and do nothing about it.

Her resolve fully intact once again, her mind made up, Jewel rinsed the shampoo out of her head and began to scrub her body.

When she stepped out of the bathroom a few minutes later, she made her way over to the bed where Chris sat, listening to Avenged Sevenfold and writing in his journal. Waiting until she was sure he was deliberately ignoring her, Jewel gripped the edges of the towel, and, catching her bottom lip hard between her teeth, she untied the towel and dropped it, letting it pool around her feet.

Chris, who had had no intention of paying his wife any mind until he'd absolutely had to, heard the rustling of the fabric as it fell, and glanced up, his eyes nearly bugging out of his head in surprise. There stood his wife, her bottom lip captured between her teeth shyly, stood in front of him stark naked, waiting for him to react.

He swallowed hard against the lump that suddenly formed in his throat. "I—what are you doing?"

"Getting changed," she said nonchalantly, acting as if it were no big deal what she was doing. In actuality, Jewel's heart had been beating rapidly, so quickly that she was afraid that she'd pass out before she could have gone through with it. "I mean…you still want to go out in public with me, right? After all, that's what husbands do with their wives."

She then turned her back to him and walked over to her suitcase to pull out a pair of fresh clothes to wear, deliberately swaying her hips from side to side so that Chris could see. She kept her eyes forward as she did so, determined to keep her face from heating up in embarrassment, even though she had no cause to be so embarrassed. Chris knew her—in the biblical sense—and she had nothing to hide from him, so why not step outside her element? If she was going to do this thing with Paul, then she may as well get some kicks out of it for her own benefit.

Bending over the suitcase, Jewel could feel Chris' hot gaze raking over every inch of her exposed flesh, and she mentally patted herself on the back. Keeping her back to him, still bent over the suitcase as if it were something that she had done a million times before, she casually called over her shoulder, "So, where were you thinking about heading out to? I was thinking that maybe we could hit an instrument store or something on our way over to the arena. I wanted to pick up some stuff and tweak my dad's theme song for a bit. Y'know, give him something new for his WrestleMania match against Vince and all. What do you think?"

Chris mumbled something untelligible, and Jewel straightening her back and turning back around to face him, a T-shirt in her hands. "Sorry? I couldn't understand you."

"I said an instrument store is fine," he said back, and from the look on his face, Jewel had to fight back a laugh. The expression on his face told her that his first thought was that he wasn't allowing her anywhere near the door of their hotel suite, because of her bold little actions. Pulling the shirt on without a bra—having a well-proportioned body had its perks, such as not having to put up with the torturous contraption known as a bra—she then turned her attention back to her suitcase, pulling out a pair of jeans and throwing them on without a second thought.

"What are you doing?"

The sound of Chris' sharp tone, coming from directly behind her, nearly caused Jewel to jump out of her skin. Turning back around with wide brown eyes, her expression was first one of guilt, before she carefully composed it into what she hoped was one of innocence.

"What do you mean?"

"You aren't wearing panties." Chris gestured to her still-naked lower torso, and raised an eyebrow. "Why not? Isn't that one of your cardinal rules for dressing yourself?" he asked sarcastically.

Raising an eyebrow in return, Jewel carefully shrugged her shoulders, again stepping outside her element. "Well, I thought that now is as good a time as any to start breaking some of my cardinal rules. You know, since I'm going to be a Diva and all, I may as well start changing my routine up a little bit. Besides, it's not like I'm aiming to attract any attention; I already have the one man I want." She smiled up at him appreciatively.

Chris wasn't buying it. "You're making an awful lot of changes awfully soon after joining your father on the road. What gives, Jewel?" He folded his arms across his chest, and glowered at her.

Sensing that her innocent act wasn't going over too well, Jewel shrugged and put her toes into her jeans, then began pulling them up her legs. "Okay, I'm twenty-three years old, Chris. I'm a married young woman, but hell, not many people know it except for our families and a select few of your friends. I'm not trying to live out the rest of my youth looking like a frigid old maid; I need to dress sexy and look my age, and play around and just have fun. I can save my baggy sweats and old T-shirts for when I hit my thirties. Speaking of which…" her voice then turned into an innocent, honeyed tone again "…whatever happened to your Sergeant Pepper leather jacket?"

Chris' eyes narrowed, and he glowered at her again. "Don't think that just because you're the new girl in a company that values tits and ass over talent in their girls means that you have to get carried away. You're still a married woman, Jewel; act like it."

"So what should I do, Chris?" she shot back, finally starting to lose her patience and dropping her pretense. "Strut around with a chip on my shoulder because of what my last name is and who I'm married to, like Stephanie does?"

Instantly, Chris froze, his posture looking as if he had been carved from a block of ice. His narrowed blue eyes were no warmer; they now looked as if they _were_ a block of ice. Jewel instantly pulled her jeans up her thighs, shimmying them up over her hips, keeping her eyes averted downward, away from her angry husband.

"If Stephanie struts around with a chip on her shoulder, it's because she's _earned_ everything she has," he snarled each word. "A billion dollar company, a seven-figure salary, the respect and adulation of all her employees, a husband and beautiful children—Hell, Jewel, I could go on and compare how different you and Stephanie are, but I'm not going to do that."

"Why don't you just go ahead, Chris? Tell me how much better at everything Stephanie is because you're f—"

Chris' eyes, if at all possible, grew even colder and angrier. "Because I'm _what?_" he asked quietly, nearly daring her to finish her outburst.

"Nothing," she mumbled, feeling the tears prick at her eyelids once more as she zipped her jeans up and turned her back on Chris. Her instincts screamed at her not to, because she knew that he would walk away from her, putting more distance between the two of them than there already was, and that was something she didn't want. "I guess I'll see you at the arena, then, since I'm sure you don't want to be seen in public with a wife who has no backbone."

She could see him preparing to tell her something else, more than likely something about Stephanie, designed to put her down and shame her even more, and her vision turned red. She picked up the closest thing that her hand could find—her track pants from the night before—and whipped it as hard as she could in Chris' direction.

"Oh, fuck _off_, Chris!" she snarled, grabbing her sneakers and her socks and flinging them on her feet in a blur, and storming past Chris to grab her bag and the spare hotel key, ignoring his stunned expression as she stormed out the room.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven Disclaimer:** _Please use this disclaimer as a reference for this and all future chapters of this story. I make no claims to, nor do I have any legal rights to anyone who is, was, or ever will be a WWE Superstar, WWE Diva, or anyone employed under World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. I am simply a writer, and I own no claim or legal rights over anyone except Jewel Hart, who is of my own creation. Thank you for not pursuing any sort of legal action._

* * *

The excitement that Jewel had felt mere moments before had now been replaced with an unreasonable anger. Here she was, changing right in front of her husband's eyes, and he _still_ had the nerve to belittle and berate her, and still think of and treat her like she was a child! She was no child; she was a grown woman, and it was time for her to start acting like it!

She tilted her chin, her jaw set in that determined, stubborn way that bore such resemblance to her father, and set off down the hall to the elevator, where she jabbed the button and waited impatiently for the lift to reach her floor. When she heard the little _ping_, signaling the arrival of the elevator, she went to step inside, but a voice called out, "Jewel?" and she paused mid-step to see Paul heading her way.

With a further pang of unhappiness, Jewel also noted that he was linked hand in hand with Stephanie.

"Paul, hi!" she said brightly, waving with one hand and using the other to stop the elevator doors from closing on her, all the while subconsciously trying to squash down the sudden urge to leap on the Billion Dollar Princess. "Going down?"

"Actually, yeah, we are. Steph and I were just going to go grab something quick for lunch before we head off to a meeting with Vince to talk about WrestleMania." He gestured to Stephanie, who was looking extremely bored.

At that instant, Stephanie's phone began to ring. "Hold that thought, Paul," she said, pulling the phone out of her pants pocket and raising it to her ear. "Hello? …Yes? …Okay, I'm on my way." Ending the call with a press of a button with a manicured, crimson-painted nail, Stephanie turned her cool blue eyes on Paul and Jewel. "Unfortunately, I won't be able to make lunch; an impromptu meeting with Creative came up, and I have to see them."

"Can't it wait?" Paul asked. Jewel happily noted a hint of irritation in his voice. "We haven't had the chance to spend time together in ages, Steph, and I was looking forward to spending the afternoon with you before we had to meet Vince."

"Well, I'm sorry Paul, but I can't miss this. You know we're putting the final touches on all the storylines that are culminating at WrestleMania; it's imperative that I make an effort to be there. I'm really sorry, but we're going to have to cancel. You can always go with Shawn or someone else."

"Yeah, that'll make my day," he grumbled. "Well, if you must…"

"I must."

"Then go. Make sure you have some kickass ideas," he said, and the two parted ways with a kiss; from Jewel's perspective, it was one that Paul had tried to let linger, but Stephanie had had other plans, giving him a noncommittal peck on the lips before spinning on her heel and walking off. Sighing, Paul turned to Jewel, who was still holding the elevator. "Holy hell, you've been holding the elevator all this time?" he asked incredulously.

"Well, I was kind of hoping you'd hurry it up with all the mushy stuff, and just get on the elevator," she said jokingly, and Paul chuckled along with her. "Well, I'm going out in search of a music store, to see if I can pick up a guitar or something; you're more than welcome to come with me, and we can go to lunch together afterwards, if you want?"

Nodding his head, Paul placed his hand at the small of her back and guided her into the elevator, making sure to follow suit before the doors closed on him. "Sure, I'd actually like that. I know this pretty cool place out of the way; it's completely different from the high-end places that Stephanie is used to going to, but I think you'd enjoy it."

"I'd like that a lot," she said with a smile on her face as the doors finally slid closed and began its descent to the lobby.

As they continued their happy conversation, neither Jewel nor Hunter noticed the livid figure glaring at them in stunned, angry disbelief as the doors slid shut.

* * *

For Jewel, it was a fun and surreal experience, traveling around with Hunter in his car around the city and taking in all the sights. First they stopped at a local guitar shop, where Hunter took great amusement in watching the energetic young woman bounce around the store, looking as if she were in the highest possible form of heaven imaginable, as she flitted from each brand of guitar to the next, comparing strings, sounds, whatever caught her fancy. After listening to her string together chord after melodious chord of music on a Les Paul guitar that caught her attention the moment they had entered the store—an instrument that they had both been sure would cause Jericho to die of envy, a thought which Hunter enjoyed most favorably—she had bought the electric guitar, and they left out, with Hunter formally inviting her to lunch at a local diner not too far away from their hotel.

"Alright, alright, I'll come with you; just let me at least pay for drinks or _something_," Jewel said exasperatedly, with a laugh as they entered the small diner and slid into a booth. "I don't feel right, taking advantage of you like this."

"Trust me, Jewel, you aren't taking advantage of me," he said. Then, in a low whisper, he added, "And even if you _were_ to take advantage of me, I'd make sure it was definitely worth your while once you did." He laughed out loud at the pink flush that suddenly crept up into her cheeks, then busied himself with deciding what on the menu looked good enough to eat.

But no matter how much he tried to concentrate on the words and pictures of delectable meals in front of him, none would be nearly as appealing or mouthwatering as the petite young woman sitting across from him. Suddenly, he found his throat was uncomfortably dry, and that he was quite hungry, but he was no longer hungry for food.

"Hi there, my name's Melody, and I'll be your server this afternoon; what can I get for y'all?" said a bright, bubbly waitress as she came up to their table. Jewel smiled in welcome to the young girl and began to rattle off something that involved a milkshake, but Hunter paid her no mind, his eyes now mentally undressing Jewel and drinking in all her delicious curves that she was now starting to show off. Her creamy skin was still flushed with pink from his comment earlier, and it looked adorable on her, made her look all the more sensual and all the more appealing to him.

"…And for you, sir?"

Hunter broke out of his thoughts, in which he was running his tongue along every inch of her simply divine body, and turned his head toward the waitress, who was holding Jewel's menu and looking at him expectantly. "Oh, uh…I'll just have a chicken sandwich, and a strawberry-banana smoothie."

"Not a problem; I'll get that right back for you guys," she said brightly, jotting down the rest of Hunter's order and walking off to the kitchen to place the order. Jewel gave him a sideways look for a moment, before biting her lip, an action which did not escape Hunter's eyes.

"Something on your mind, kid?"

At that, her head shot up, and her brown eyes were narrowed. "I'm not a kid," she said stubbornly, sticking her chin out proudly, and to Hunter, it sounded like a child that was trying to convince themselves that they were fully grown. If anything, it made her look even cuter in his book. "I'm a grown woman, married and everything; I'm not a kid anymore."

"Trust me, Jewel, after everything that's happened so far with you and I, thinking of you as a kid is the last thing on my mind right now," he said, fixing her with a gaze that was so heated, so intense, that it made her shiver across the table. "You look like a kid, but trust me, you're all woman, lady."

For a moment, she stared at him intensely with those entrancing brown eyes of hers, then she lowered her gaze, a shy smile curling her lips. "Really?" she asked quietly, and Hunter frowned.

"What's the matter, you're not used to getting compliments from the husband?"

"Yeah right," she snorted in disbelief. "No, wait, I take it back. The only thing he compliments me on is my ability inside the ring. He tells me that I'm good, but that my cousin is still better than I am. At least he didn't compare me to Stephanie on that count…" she said bitterly, flopping back against the booth and crossing her arms stubbornly.

At that point, watching her look so dejected even after receiving a compliment, Hunter felt a surge of renewed hatred course its way through his body once more. How in the hell could someone like Chris Jericho have such a beautiful woman on his arm, and treat her like garbage? It was no wonder that Jewel was so repressed sexually; she had an asshole for a husband who paid her no mind, and would rather spend his time sleeping around behind her back with a woman who was married as well! The thought of Jericho and Stephanie together, bodies intertwined and slicked with sweat as they writhed on a bed, having heated, passionate sex was enough to sicken him. In fact, it made him all the more glad that he had gotten Jewel to agree to his plan; anything to get the upper hand on Chris Jericho and play him for the fool that he was, was completely fine with him.

"…Hunter?" Suddenly, Hunter was pulled out of his thoughts by the sound of Jewel's voice, and he glanced up at her beautiful brown eyes fixated on him, round and bright with concern. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," he shrugged casually.

"Oh no," she mumbled, "I did it again, didn't I?" Her face scrunched up, as if she was trying not to cry, and Hunter stared dumbfounded at her. "I'm so sorry, Hunter, I shouldn't have brought Chris up."

"Hey, don't feel bad," he replied, reaching across the table and taking a gentle hold of her hand to stop her before she could jump up and dash away on him. "I brought it up; it's my fault, okay? I don't want you blaming yourself because I'm a big, dumb, muscle headed dumb-head." His lame attempt at a joke brought a small smile to her face, and before she knew what was happening, Jewel was laughing. A small giggle at first, but then she couldn't control herself, and a loud, unladylike guffaw escaped her lips, which caused her to laugh even harder. One look at Hunter's amused face set her off in another round of giggles, as Melody returned with their food and drinks, then skipped off again to wait another table.

* * *

That was exactly what she had needed to take her mind off of Chris, Jewel mused to herself, nearly skipping through the parking lot to Hunter's car. She had gotten so infuriated with Chris trying to dictate her life, so sick of him belittling her and comparing her to Stephanie that she had just stormed off. She needed to get away from him for a while to clear her head, to contemplate whether or not she should continue through with Hunter's idea. No sooner had the idea crept into her mind than an image of Stephanie's smug little face popped up as well, and Jewel had had to squash down the urge to break something.

That was why she had considered it a bit of a godsend that Stephanie had had her little "meeting" with Creative that had come up, just as she was faced with the possibility of having to spend time with Hunter, because it gave Jewel time to spend with the older man. She couldn't help feeling as close to him as she did; in such a short time since showing up in the WWE with her father, Jewel had grown attached to Hunter, perhaps more than she should. But she'd needed some type of comfort, comfort and companionship that Chris hadn't given her in so long, had in fact refused to give her, that when she saw her chance at happiness, at feeling _something_, she was not going to let it slip through her grasp.

As the car sped down the highway, Jewel glanced over at Hunter. His blond locks were flying all around his face from the wind blowing through the open window, and the scruffy beard that lined his face nearly made her mouth water. Where Chris was cruel, Hunter was kind. What Chris refused to offer, Hunter gave freely, and she was desperate for it.

Suddenly, she felt those familiar flames of desire flickering around in her belly as she stared at the other man, those embers slowly beginning to stir to life. As the car approached a red light, Hunter stopped the car, and finally slid his gaze to her. His golden brown eyes met her heated mocha ones, and suddenly the breeze passing through the window wasn't nearly enough to cool her off. Her skin was so flushed, so heated, that she felt as if she were going to be consumed by the flames if she didn't get Hunter alone soon, _now_.

"Is there anywhere we can go to be alone?" she asked brusquely, her mind betraying her body and reaching her hand across to Hunter's lap, where she squeezed his leg, then began to slowly rake her nails upward. Hunter sucked in a deep breath, and Jewel, taking it as a sign of encouragement, went to continue on.

…That is, until a honk from a car behind them jarred them from their moment together. Hunter turned his gaze from hers and back to the road, where he pulled off again, returning the trip to an uncomfortable silence.

For what seemed like an eternity, they drove on, Jewel now focusing her attention on looking out the window. Had she really just done that with Hunter? Was that really her just then, her fingers so tantalizingly close to Hunter's groin? And if that car hadn't interrupted the moment by blaring their goddamned horn, would she have gone further? Would she have actually…_touched_ it? Done more with it?

What was happening to her because of this man? The old Jewel would have _never_ done something like this with Chris.

_And that's exactly why the old Jewel wasn't getting any respect from Chris,_ she thought bitterly, biting down on her lip hard enough to nearly draw blood. Her eyes narrowed as they focused unseeingly out the window, then widened in surprise when the car pulled into an empty lot, and Hunter killed the engine.

"Hunter, what's going on?" she inquired, looking around, while Hunter unhooked himself from his seatbelt. Without a word, Hunter reached across the seat for Jewel, and dragged her face towards his for a brutal kiss, swallowing her gasp of surprise. His mouth was so hot, so hard, and so demanding, that Jewel had no choice but to surrender into it, had no other desire but to surrender to it. Those flames of desire that had been licking at her body ignited into full-blown arousal, and she struggled to free herself from the seatbelt, eager to get as close to Hunter as she possibly could. The blasted thing, torturous as it was, finally clicked free and released her from its confines, and she took the opportunity to climb into Hunter's lap, not once minding how cramped the car, despite its comfortable appearance, seemed to be. "I want you," she gasped, fisting her fingers through his dark blonde locks, tangling her fingers in them, her eyes nearly blazing from want. "Do you have anything?" she inquired, sliding back for a moment, uttering a quiet grunt of discomfort as her back hit the steering wheel.

"Unfortunately, no, since I haven't had sex other than a bed in years," he admitted. "Stephanie was always very weird that way, she never—"

"—I don't want to talk about Stephanie," Jewel interrupted with a fierce, frenzied look upon her face, as she swooped in to take his mouth in another passionate kiss, one that she dominated, and Hunter didn't have it in him to protest.

Breaking the kiss and feeling emboldened by the freedom that being with Hunter like this, without thought or concern that she was cheating on her husband, Jewel untangled herself from Hunter's lap, where his prominent erection, which she had been torturing mercilessly as she kissed him, stood at attention through his jeans. She moved to the backseat of the car, where, with a sly, teasing grin, she unzipped her jeans for Hunter, kicked off her sneakers, and slid them down her legs, carelessly kicking them off once they reached her feet. "Get over here," she commanded in a low, sultry tone, then gave a small, nervous giggle. "I always wanted to do that," she said in a low, excited tone, her eyes still aglow.

Hunter smirked at her as he climbed into the backseat as well, his eyes stalking her hungrily as she laid herself down across the seat and spread her legs for him.

For a moment, he sat back and drank in the sight of her: her lips, pink and swollen from both his kisses and her teeth biting them; her angelic face, even as her eyes were aglow with mischief and wickedness as they settled upon him; her beautiful breasts, rounded and heaving as she gulped in air; the delicious curve of her hips, all the way down to the tight pinkness that had welcomed him so thoroughly only a few days earlier.

"Fuck me, Hunter," she finally gasped out, a plea that made him smirk again.

"Not yet."

The two words nearly had Jewel screaming with frustration. Wait? Why should she wait? She wanted to make her husband pay for treating her like trash, and she wanted so badly for Hunter to make her feel like a woman, make her feel like she was wanted, like she was craved. She did _not_ want to wait. "Why?" she demanded, those brown eyes of hers narrowed in frustration.

That delicious smirk of his grew wider, as Hunter's own brown eyes traveled up and down her body, until it at last reached its desired location. "Because I want you to experience something else first."

"Experience what—Oh, sweet mercy!" she cried, trying not to scream out in delight and surprise as Hunter took that precise moment to dip his head between her legs and suck her clit into his mouth. "Oh, dear God, whatever you're doing, please don't stop!"

Hunter's tongue licked the inside of her tightness, moaning contentedly at how ripe and delicious she tasted on his tongue, occasionally flicking his tongue against her clit again, just to hear her cries of pleasure as she drew closer, ever agonizingly closer to the edge.

Jewel's eyes were closed in sheer bliss, her mouth open and her fingers gripping at the door handle, the headrest on the back of the front passenger seat, anything to hold on to as she fought to hold off her fast-approaching orgasm for as long as she could.

"You taste so damn good, Jewel," Hunter growled in a husky tone, before swiping his tongue against her clit again, earning him another moan of approval, and moving a hand down to his pants to cup himself in anticipation. He was hard, so damn hard, because of this woman; there was no way she should be affecting him as strongly as she did, but she did, and he didn't care. He didn't want it to stop. With his free hand, he slipped a finger inside her and started to move it in and out slowly, grinning in approval as she whined and mewed like a kitten, arching and squealing in delight at his actions.

"Fuck me, Hunter, _please_! I can't take it anymore, _pleeeeeeeeease!_"

That final plea, that final whine of surrender, was what Hunter needed to hear. He unzipped his pants and shoved them down to his knees, took hold of the younger woman's thighs and adjusted them to his liking, positioned himself, and drove himself inside her, a hiss of bliss escaping his lips at being inside her tight heat again.

He moved within her, slow at first, then gradually picking up speed as she grew tighter and tighter around him. Her hands dug into his shoulders, her body arched against his, and she moaned, whined, hissed, and wailed her approval in his ear as he fucked her mercilessly in the car, thrusting and withdrawing, thrusting and withdrawing. Whatever she wanted, he gave, and he gave it all to her.

It wasn't long before Hunter was speeding up again, his hips moving faster and faster, before he exploded inside her, sinking his teeth into her shoulder possessively to prevent himself from roaring as he came. His breathing gradually returned to normal, but not before he raised himself up above Jewel, and used his hand to travel down to her womanhood, where he played with her sensitive clit while he still moved within her. He felt a surge of primitive satisfaction as her breath hitched, her eyes closed in bliss, her back arched, and she came all around his cock.

A few moments passed in silence between them as they basked in the afterglow of the session, both of them just content to remain where they were. "Wow…" Jewel finally sighed after a few moments, inhaling deeply the scent of their union, and smiling happily. "That was just…wow. Amazing isn't even the right word for that."

"How about exceedingly, mind-blowingly orgasmic?" Hunter suggested, laying himself down on top of her once more, and pressing a kiss to her forehead. "You…you're one amazing person, did you know that?"

She blushed, that light pink flush creeping into her cheeks and never once failing to bring a smile to Hunter's face. "Thanks," she said quietly, looking up at him, her eyes sparkling. "You're perfect, Hunter. I can't imagine why Stephanie would take you for granted."

He couldn't understand why, either. But at that moment, he didn't care. All he cared about, all he was starting to care about was Jewel Hart, and why he couldn't get her out of his head.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

After righting her clothing and fixing her hair and makeup so that it appeared as if she hadn't just been freshly and thoroughly well-fucked by a man who wasn't her husband, Jewel climbed back into the passenger seat of Hunter's car and took a deep breath to calm herself. Her legs were still shaking from the powerful orgasm that Hunter had skillfully and relentlessly driven her to, and, if she were honest with herself, she was trying hard not to convince him to commence with a second round. As it was, she was already pressing her luck with Chris, who, upon turning her phone back on once they were on the road again, had apparently called her phone time after time after time, leaving about fifteen missed calls and quite a few angry voice messages on her phone demanding in no uncertain terms that she call him right back as soon as she received his messages, and return to the hotel. She deleted each expletive-laced message without a second thought; she was too content to deal with him right now. She would rather do it later, when she was relaxed in their hotel room, listening to some Foo Fighters, or maybe even some Godsmack.

As Hunter gunned the ignition once more and the engine purred to life, Jewel closed her eyes contentedly, allowing her thoughts to drift back to the interlude that had just taken place in the backseat of his rental car. It was at that moment that _"Break the Walls Down!"_ blared throughout the car, signaling that Chris was indeed calling her phone yet again.

"Who's that?" Hunter inquired, nodding his head to the phone.

Jewel sighed and opened her eyes, holding the phone up to her face. "It's Chris calling, _again_," she said with a hint of exasperation.

"His caller tone is his theme song? How obnoxious of you," Hunter teased with a sly smirk. He was rewarded with a punch to his shoulder from the younger woman.

With another sigh of exasperation, Jewel answered the call and raised the phone to her ear. "Good afternoon, darling husband of mine, my cherished heart, what can I do for you?" she asked innocently.

"Don't play innocent with me, Jewel," came a snarled reply from the other end, and Jewel squirmed in her seat a little to keep from letting Hunter show that Chris was getting her aroused again. "Where the hell are you?"

"Well if you remember dear husband, I told you to fuck off, and then I went on my merry way out the door to check out a music store. This place I've been checking out, you'd love it; it has a great selection of bass guitars and drums, and—"

"What the hell were you doing with Hunter?" Chris snarled, cutting Jewel off mid-sentence.

For a moment, time seemed to cease within the confines of her head. She knew she'd been caught, and couldn't seem to think up an excuse quickly enough to suit her husband's suspicious attitude, and so before she could come up with a suitable excuse, Chris began an angry tirade.

"You seem to care nothing for my feelings or your father's feelings, Jewel. You're such an ungrateful little whore! I told you to stay away from Hunter because you knew how much he hated me and how much he hated your father, and the first thing I see when I come out of my room is you hopping into an elevator with him! What would your father say if he saw you doing such a thing?"

Blinking back angry tears at Chris' harsh words, Jewel bit her lip to keep an angry retort of her own from escaping her lips, instead choosing to let him continue his rant uninterrupted. Finally, when he had paused briefly in his tirade against her and how he had expected her to listen to his every word since she was to be traveling with him on the road, she interjected quietly.

"Are you finished?"

Her words caught him off guard, and he stuttered for a moment. "No, I'm not done. I have a lot more that I want to say to you, Jewel," he began, but she cut him off again.

"Well you know what, Chris? I have a lot that I want to say to you, too, but I keep my fucking mouth shut because I love you and actually give a shit about your feelings," she snapped. The angry outburst from the petite woman caught Hunter's attention, who had just approached the hotel, and was now pulling the car into the parking lot. Before Chris could respond in kind, she continued on. "For your information, Chris, yeah, I met Hunter at the elevator. He was about to head to lunch with Stephanie, but she had some bullshit meeting with Creative and used that as an excuse to get away from him. I felt bad for the guy, so I offered to hang out with him for a while and catch up as friends, since I was heading out as well. He's actually been a very nice guy to me the past few days, Chris, completely contrary to whatever conspiracy theory bullshit you spewed out about him to scare me away from him. So you know what? Thanks for ruining what was otherwise a pretty awesome day with your petty bullshit. I think I'm going to give Nattie and Ty a call, and room with them tonight."

"Why?" he demanded. "Going to use them as an excuse to hook up with Hunter behind my back?"

Closing her eyes, Jewel took a deep breath to calm herself before she lost her temper and showed her husband how much like her father she was when she got angry. When she spoke again, her tone was cold and clipped. "Actually, I was going to spend some time with my cousin and her boyfriend, and catch up with them. You know, since you don't want me hanging around any other person that looks like he might have a penis. I'll see you in the morning." Before Chris could respond, with either another heartless comment or command, she pulled the phone away from her ear and ended the call, shoving it into her bag with a growl of frustration as Hunter pulled into a parking space and turned the engine off.

"Do I need to ask what that was about?" Hunter inquired softly, turning to face her. He was surprised to see Jewel's face as a blank mask, hiding anything that she was truly feeling away from everyone, including him.

"Chris was just being Chris," she said quietly, gathering her things and releasing the seatbelt catch. "It's nothing that I'm not used to, or haven't grown accustomed to since we got married. I'll be fine."

"Jewel, that's bullshit," Hunter said, starting to grow angry as they climbed out of the car. "You shouldn't let him talk to you like that; you don't need to take shit from him or anyone else. You're a Hart; you're Bret Hart's kid; do you know how much pride that man has, how much your grandfather instilled that in his children and grandchildren? You shouldn't be bowing and heeding his every command! If your father knew—"

"Yeah, well, he doesn't need to know, because it's none of his business!" Jewel snapped back, her eyes snapping furiously. "What do I look like, running to my father every single time I have a fucking crisis? That's bullshit, Hunter, and you know it! Do you go running to Vince every single time someone whispers behind your back about you getting your position because you banged Stephanie? I don't think so. You sucked it up and you took it like a man and look where you are! Shouldn't I be afforded that same luxury? I can take my punches like any other person, and shouldn't have to run to my daddy like a little freaking child the minute somebody says something mean to me."

Though there were tears in her eyes, she held her chin up high, and Hunter could see, in that very moment, that she was indeed Bret's daughter, that if she was going to suffer hurt and disappointment from her husband, that it was her cross to bear, and that she would deal with it in her own way. With that clear, he held up his hands in surrender. "Okay, that's fine, have it your way. I'm just saying though, you shouldn't have to put up with all that crap from Chris. How can he treat you like garbage, and then turn around and get jealous the minute you go out and hang with someone else? I mean, where does he get off?"

"That's Chris Jericho for you," Jewel said with a bitter laugh. Hunter popped the trunk and Jewel grabbed her guitar from the back, then slammed the trunk shut before turning and starting to walk off. "Don't worry about me, Hunter," she called over her shoulder, "I can deal with Chris. You're the one who has to deal with the Billion Dollar Bitch; I'd be more concerned about you."

"Ha ha ha," he called back sarcastically. "Get out of here, kid." She waved him off, continuing on her way to the elevators that would take her to the hotel lobby, leaving Hunter in front of his rental, staring in amazement after her.

She truly was a unique soul, that Jewel Hart, he mused to himself. She took the verbal abuse and neglect from her husband, wants desperately to get revenge on him for the way he treats her, yet fights like a wildcat on his side when someone else offered an opinion on their complicated relationship. It was a slippery slope indeed, trying to decipher her intentions and what she really wanted where it concerned her marriage. Though he wanted oh, so badly to follow Jewel to Jericho's room and throw it in his face that the two of them had been sleeping together behind his back just to see the look of humiliation and hurt on his face, he knew he couldn't. He wanted to play his cards right, wait for the right moment…and then he would strike. In the meantime, he thought it would be best to avoid Jewel for a few days, so as not to draw too much attention to themselves.

With a smirk on his face, Hunter headed off to the elevators himself, whistling as he headed to his own wife.

As the steel elevator doors closed behind her, Jewel hurried forward to grab the handle of the glass doors that led to the hotel lobby with one hand, the other hand holding her guitar and cell phone. As she pulled the door open and stepped through, a hand grasped the handle of the door just above where her hand was positioned, and she looked behind her to meet a pair of green eyes that were all too familiar to her.

"Adam Copeland, you dirty little jerk face!" she squealed, releasing her hand from the door and throwing it around her fellow Canadian's neck and pulling him in for a light hug. She shimmied through the door and moved aside for Adam to do the same, then pulled him in for a second, longer and tighter hug, taking the time to embrace her longtime friend again.

Though Adam had originally hailed from Orangeville, during his stint as an aspiring wrestler, he had found his way to the Hart House in Calgary, where he had met a then-teenage Jewel, and the two had become nearly inseparable best friends. As a matter of fact, Adam had joked to her on many an occasion, if it hadn't been for Jewel meeting and falling in love with Chris, Adam would have been her first love, and maybe even the man she would be married to at that moment instead of Jericho, a fact that still got Chris' teeth gritting whenever Adam brought the subject up.

"Hey there, beautiful," Adam said, returning her hug just as tightly with a smile of his own. "How's my beautiful little Jewel?"

She waved a hand dismissively. "Oh, you know me; rocking and rolling and breaking hearts everywhere I go. I got my dad to bring me on the road with him to help hype his match against Vince at WrestleMania. I'm even going to talk with Vince and Jim Johnston, see if I can tweak my dad's theme a little bit, give it a little update of sorts."

Adam grinned down at her. "I see; you've got your equipment and everything. You look like you're all set to go. So how's everything else? How's the husband?"

"Ugh, a jealous fuck as usual," Jewel said, shrugging her shoulders carelessly as they started to walk. "You know the deal by now, Addy; it's nothing I can't handle. But enough about me; what about you? I haven't heard from you in forever; you have to tell me _everything_ that's been going on since your surgery. I watched you return at the Rumble; I gotta say, that was one hell of a turn-on, watching the look on Chris' face as your music hit and you came out and cleared house."

Adam smirked proudly. "Of course, that was one of my favorite moments. Anything that I can do to get even with Chris for stealing my precious Jewel away is a good thing," he said with a sneaky grin, leaning in to tickle her lightly, earning him a squeal of delight from the younger woman, who shied away from him to avoid his fingers.

Due to his height and taller frame, as well as Jewel being bogged down with her bounty, it didn't take him long to catch the younger woman; when he caught her, he hugged her from behind, refusing to let go until she cried uncle with a peal of delighted laughter. With a chuckle of his own, he released her from his hold and followed her to the elevators, grabbing and holding her hand, while using the other to hold her guitar.

Though others—namely Chris—tried to decipher the relationship between Jewel and Adam, there was nothing but friendship that existed between the two of them. Though Adam constantly joked that he would have gotten to Jewel first if Chris hadn't beaten him to the punch, Jewel honestly could not see herself with Adam that way. Once upon a time, she would have honestly considered the possibility of dating Adam, but he was too close to her, too much like her best friend, to think of him as anything more than her best friend. He was perfect to her just the way he was, and, try as he might, there was no changing that.

"So, what's got Chris' ego on edge this time to make him get pissy at you?" Adam asked as the elevator arrived, letting Jewel on first then following her inside.

As the doors slid shut behind them, Jewel shrugged again. "I've been hanging out with Hunter the past few days, and Chris can't stand it. He's constantly up my ass about it, swearing up and down like a crazed conspiracy theorist that Hunter wouldn't think twice about using me just to get back at him or my dad." She tossed her hair over her shoulder impatiently. "If I want to be honest with him, I could always tell him that Hunter doesn't give that much of a crap about him to try and sabotage him that way. Trust me, from all the time we've spent around each other these past few days, Chris has only come up a handful of times. We've mostly spent the time talking about me, or him, or even his kids."

"I bet that's refreshing, having someone actually wanting to talk about you?" he inquired, rubbing the pad of his thumb gently across her knuckles, her hand still entwined with his.

"You have no idea, Addy," she said in a low voice, calling him by her special pet name she reserved just for him. She knew better than to refer to him by this nickname in public, so instead reserved it for times when the two of them were alone. He would kill her if anyone else knew that she called him such an adorable nickname. "It's better than hearing Chris bitching about how insignificant I am compared to his precious Stephanie."

"Jewel," Adam began in a serious tone as the elevator hit their floor and they stepped off, "have you ever considered leaving Chris? I mean, seriously sat down and thought about divorcing him?"

"No way!" she said, shooting him a scandalized look, shocked that he of all people would suggest such an idea. "Adam, what in the world makes you think that I would leave him?"

"Hear me out first before you go tearing my throat out," he said quickly as they walked down the hall towards Nattie and Tyson's room. "I mean, think about it. You constantly complain that Chris treats you like garbage, and always talks down to you and comparing you to Stephanie, like she's some sort of goddess. I know you're tired it, and I'm tired of hearing about it. And I know for a fact you guys barely even have sex anymore, because you're always over my house when he's on the road, or hanging out with Nat. You guys hardly spend time together; he's hardly home, and you guys only play the dutiful, happy couple when people who don't know the whole story, like your father. So please, please give me one good reason why you shouldn't kick him to the curb and get with someone who's actually worth your time." They stopped at Nattie's door and Adam knocked, then shot Jewel a crooked grin. "Someone like me, maybe?"

Jewel rolled her eyes. "Give it up, Adam. I'm not leaving Chris anytime soon. But if things don't change soon, I'll be tempted to take some…drastic measures." As she heard her cousin's voice on the other side of the door, yelling that she'd be there in a second, Jewel fixed her gaze on Adam, and a small, mischievous grin made its way onto her face. "Let's just say I've already set a few things in motion."


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

"That was amazing."

"Only because you haven't had it in a while."

"True, but every time is better than the last."

A satisfied laugh caught Chris Jericho's ears, and he turned in time to see a smirk of amusement crossing Stephanie McMahon's face, a smirk which he returned in kind. The two of them lay in bed, the bed sheets tangled around them following a rather frantic, passionate interlude. Chris knew that he was wrong, cheating on Jewel the way he was with Stephanie, and rubbing it in her face that he openly preferred Stephanie to her was an even crueler blow to land, but it was the way he felt. He wasn't sure if Stephanie felt the same about him the way he did about her, but they had been sleeping together for years, starting from the moment they first began their storyline hatred of one another. Though they hated one another on camera, off-screen, however, they couldn't keep their hands to themselves.

The affair had continued on for years, through her real-life relationship with Hunter and their subsequent marriage. Stephanie hadn't cared that she was married to Hunter and cheating on him with Chris; deep down, Jericho knew that he was the one that Stephanie wanted. She had her cake, and she wanted to eat it, too. And really, who was Chris to deny both Stephanie and himself the pleasure they both wanted so strongly? Was it so wrong to feel so strongly about one person, that you continue to give them what they wanted, despite the fact that the both of you were attached to other people?

He didn't enjoy hurting Jewel, because deep down, he did love and care about her. The only problem was, he couldn't have the woman he wanted with all his being, so he took it out on Jewel. And Jewel, being the faithful little wife that he'd known she'd be, she toughed it out, refusing to leave him like he wanted her to. She took his abuse and suffered in silence, although occasionally she would play the victim, most of the time she would endure his comments and behavior, just to stay by his side.

Deep down, he admired her courage. He would have thought that she would have gone running to her father to straighten him out long ago. But she surprised him with the depth of her dedication, staying by his side even though he'd made it clear that he didn't want her as strongly or as passionately as he'd wanted Stephanie.

A sudden thought had him gritting his teeth in a sudden flash of anger. Hunter. Just the thought of Hunter with Jewel—hanging out with her, or even near her in any sort of fashion—made him want to pummel the man into oblivion, stretch his body and put him through the worst kind of pain imaginable. Jericho had already lost one woman to the Cerebral Assassin; he'd be damned if he lost another to the egotistical bastard. He may not love his wife as much as he loved Stephanie, but he was still possessive of what was his, and if he had any say in the matter, he would keep his wife far away from Hunter's manipulative ways.

Stephanie noticed his sudden change in mood, and laid a hand on his chest, looking up at him in concern. "Something wrong?" she asked curiously.

Instantly, Jericho pushed the thought of Jewel and Hunter from his mind, and turned back to Stephanie with a small smile. "Nothing too major; it's just something that crossed my mind."

"Well, by all means, share it with me."

"It's nothing," he protested.

Stephanie sat up in the bed and leveled him with a stubborn, determined look in her blue-gray eyes, and he instantly began to feel himself caving. From the very beginning, it had been what Stephanie wanted, and Chris couldn't help but resist. She wasn't known as the "Billion Dollar Princess" for nothing; when she saw something that she wanted, she went after it and dogged it until it was hers. She wanted Chris Jericho, and by God, she had him. No matter who it was he shared his life or his bed with, he would always be hers. "Tell me," she demanded, narrowing those eyes at him.

Heaving an irritated sigh, Jericho ran a hand through his spiky blond hair. "It's Jewel," he finally said after a moment, and Stephanie instantly stiffened up, her eyes narrowing once more.

"What about her? Is the little princess playing the victim again?"

Chris chuckled. "She's always playing the victim, it comes from being Bret's daughter," he said. Even though he held a tremendous amount of respect for the legendary Hit Man, even looked up to him as a father figure and role model, Chris had always thought of his father-in-law as a tad dramatic with certain things, including Chris' relationship with his daughter. "But no; what's bothering me is how much time Jewel's been spending with Hunter lately. I don't like it."

Stephanie laughed coldly. "What, are you worried Hunter is going to steal little Jewel's virtue? I thought you did that already when you snatched her away from Edge."

"I'm not worried about her virtue," he shot back, "I just don't trust Hunter around a beautiful woman, especially a woman connected to a person he hates. Look how he snatched you away from me, just to spit in my face. Imagine what he could do with a naïve little girl like Jewel."

"Well, I'm sure Jewel is a big girl and she can take care of herself," Stephanie said nonchalantly. When Chris didn't respond, she moved, positioning herself so that she was straddling his waist and cupped his chin with her hand, forcing him to turn his attention back to her. "Right now, I don't care about what's going on with Jewel and Hunter. She could fuck him blind for all I care. Your ring may be on her finger, but your…" She gazed down at his quickly hardening erection, and smirked "…heart belongs to me."

She then released his chin and trailed her fingers slowly down his chest, smirking in satisfaction when Chris' eyes followed the motions. Down, they went, down, down…trailing down his chest, until they rested at his cock, where they grasped the base, eliciting a groan from the Canadian, and held with a slightly firm grip, as she rose up and sank down onto it, moaning contentedly as he filled her up.

All of Chris' worries about Jewel—his fury over seeing her with Hunter, his displeasure at her defying him, and her sudden transformation from demure child into brazen beauty—disappeared in a lust-filled haze as Stephanie rode him to ecstasy, her moans and cries of pleasure driving him over the edge.

Jewel heaved a sigh as she lay in bed that night. Although Nattie and Tyson weren't as high up on the totem pole as Chris was, their room was still comfortable enough to fit an extra person or two if it was needed. While the four of them—Adam, Jewel, Nattie, and Tyson—hung out and watched movies the rest of the afternoon and had fun, she still felt as if something were missing. Adam had stayed by her side like the loyal best friend she had always known him to be, and had even offered to stay the night in the extra bed with her to keep her company, but she turned him down, finding that she missed her husband. Even though Chris blurred the line between Chris Irvine and Chris Jericho with how he treated her, part of her couldn't bear to be away from him.

Throwing on her jeans and grabbing the spare card key from the nightstand, she left the room, closing it as quietly as she could behind her and quietly made her way to the elevator, hitting the button and waiting, her foot tapping impatiently. When it finally arrived, she climbed on and pressed the button for her floor. As it arrived at her floor, she sped through the doors, heading for Chris's room. As she moved down the hall, she could spy a tall brunette walking down the hall in the opposite direction—more like sauntering, as if she didn't care who saw her walking away from…

Chris's room.

With eyes that were burning with fury, Jewel walked as fast as she could down to the middle of the hall, stopping to an abrupt halt in front of her husband's door, where she fished through her jeans angrily for the key to their room. Swiping the key, she threw the door open and stormed in, her chest heaving and her temper rising. "Chris?" she demanded, walking fully into the suite, closing the door behind her, and heading directly for the bedroom.

The bedroom was empty, but the sheets were indeed rumpled, as if someone had been rolling around in them, but she could hear the shower running. Jewel bit her lip in confusion and sat down on the bed, unsure of what to do next. Should she barge into the shower and confront her husband, demanding to know if he'd had the gall to invite Stephanie into their bedroom to sleep with her while Jewel had been out? Or should she give her husband the benefit of the doubt, for fear of his wrath?

As she was deciding what to do, the shower stopped, and, after a few moments, the door to the bathroom opened, and out stepped Chris, dressed in a towel and running a hand through his spiky hair. He stopped when he saw her, and a small smile crossed his face. "I thought you wouldn't be back until tomorrow."

"I was thinking about staying over with Nattie and Ty, but I kind of missed you," she admitted, dropping her gaze as a blush crept its way to her cheeks.

One golden eyebrow arched curiously. "Really?" he asked huskily. He then started walking towards her predatorily, watching her eyes widen in fascination. "How much did you miss me?" he asked in a seductive tone.

"I missed you so much," she said breathily as he approached the bed, looming over her. Her body, reacting to his predatory gaze, automatically began trembling in anticipation. "I couldn't sleep there, I missed you so much."

His face inched closer to hers, and her breath came in harsh gasps, she was so taken by him. "I didn't want to leave things the way they were, so I came back," she said shakily, as he lazily leaned in over her, easing her back onto the bed.

"Since you don't want to leave things the way they were after we argued, what do you suppose we do to rectify the situation?" he asked, again in that husky tone.

"I…I'm sorry."

"And?" His lips brushed over hers.

"I want to make it up to you."

He pulled away slightly, his blue eyes darkening as they stared at her. "How do you plan on doing that?"

"Anything you want."

"Anything?" he breathed, his lips brushing over hers again.

"Anything," she repeated, gasping as he pressed himself against her.

"Are you sure about that?"

"I'll do _anything_."

"Stay away from Hunter." His voice was firm, determined, and broke through her dazed thoughts, making her blink in confusion.

"W…what?"

Chris remained where he was, but the husky tone in his voice was gone, replaced by a cold, detached tone that more resembled Chris Jericho than her husband. "Stay away from Hunter. You stay away from him, and I'll forgive you for picking that fight."

Jewel then started to sit up in the bed, prompting Chris to move off of her and take a seat next to her on the bed. "Chris…"

"No, there's no compromise in this." He brushed a hand against her cheek, and she closed her eyes against his touch. "I hate to be so harsh with you, Jewel, but you know it's because I love you so much. I can't compromise on you with this one; I simply don't want Hunter to hurt you. Can't you see where I'm coming from on this? I'm looking out for you, after all."

Suddenly, her eyes snapped open, and she slowly stood up from the bed, facing her husband. "Chris, don't you trust me? Nothing is going on with Hunter. He's just been really nice to me the few days I've been here. Can't you actually think of me for once, instead of thinking of yourself?"

"I always think of you." Cold anger blazed in his blue eyes then, and Jewel knew then and there that he had been planning this whole scenario. "I always put your needs above my own, Jewel. Why don't you stop being such a selfish little whore for once, and actually take the advice of someone who knows and actually gives a damn about you?"

"I can't fucking believe you," she scoffed, putting her hands on her hips. She started to pace back and forth, her gaze dropping to the floor to think, and that was when she spotted it.

A condom wrapper on the floor next to the bed.

She froze, and her gaze whipped to Chris, who continued to stare at her, unaware of her discovery. "Stephanie was here, wasn't she?" she asked, her voice dropping to a quiet whisper.

Instantly, Chris shut down, his eyes even going flat. "What would make you think that?"

"Your fucking condom is on the floor!" she snarled, then, before his face could even register his shock, she swooped down on the floor and scooped it up, holding it in his face to see.

"I should stop seeing Hunter, because obviously, _I'm_ in the wrong, huh?" she seethed, her brown eyes glaring angrily. "Chris, what the hell? Is it not enough that you have to fucking hang it over my head that you're fucking that nasty bitch, but then you have the nerve to do it _in our hotel room_? Why do you keep doing this to me? What have I done that is wrong offensive to you that you have to keep wrecking me like this?"

"Oh, for the love of God, Jewel, stop being so dramatic," he snapped, shooting to his feet angrily, his blue eyes now bright with anger. "This isn't about me, this is about you hanging around with people I don't want you around."

"What are you, my freaking father? You don't control me, Chris; I can hang around anyone I want!"

"A perfect excuse for a whore," he sneered. Shaking her head, Jewel turned to head for the door, but Chris was quicker, grabbing her wrist and spinning her back around to face him. "Listen to me, because whether you want to admit it or not, I am doing this for your own good. Hunter is bad for you; he will use you to hurt me and your father, without any regard to how you feel. He will use you, and he will hurt you. Believe it or not, I don't want to see you hurt."

"Yeah, because you're doing such a great job of keeping me happy," she spat, trying to keep her emotions in check. _I won't cry, I won't fucking cry, I'm not weak!_ "I think I'm going to head back to Nattie's room," she said, pulling her arm free of Chris' grip. "And I'm a grown woman; if anything happens to me, it's my fault and I'll take responsibility for it. It'll be my mistake to make. And don't worry, you won't have to put up with me bothering you and your little interludes during the day anymore," she said in a small voice, one that, despite her best efforts, was on the verge of tears as she walked over to grab her suitcase. On her way to the door, she fished through her pocket and dug out the key to Chris' room, walked back over towards Chris, and flung the card on the nightstand.

"Don't you dare walk away from me," he said angrily, striding behind her and clutching his towel to keep it around his waist. "We're not done here."

"Oh, yes, we are. But don't worry, I'm not going to run to Hunter's room to sleep with him," she said coldly. "I think I'll room with Nat and Ty for a little while, or even get a room of my own. So I'll see you at the arena."

Grabbing the handle of her suitcase again, she turned and left the room, ignoring Chris yelling her name through the door. As she made her way back down the hall to the elevator, she could feel the need to burst welling up within her. She reached the ladder and pressed the call button frantically, urging the elevator to reach her floor before she exploded. Finally, blessedly, the car arrived, and she went to step on, her head down.

"Jewel?"

Jewel looked up in surprise, surprised to see Adam standing there. "What's wrong?" Finally, she couldn't take it anymore, and she ran into his arms, the tears finally spilling over as the doors closed behind them.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten**

The next thing Jewel knew when she opened her eyes, it was morning, and she wasn't alone.

She lay curled up against Adam's chest for a few moments, breathing deeply as she took in her situation and recalled the events of the previous day. She'd had sex with Hunter in the back of his rental car after a sweet little day trip around the city shopping, gotten into an argument with Chris over the phone over his grudge against Hunter, and met up with and hung out with Adam, her cousin, and her boyfriend. On top of all of that, she'd almost allowed herself to cave to Chris's manipulations just because she was so addicted to him, and when she'd called him out on his manipulations and infidelity, he'd called her a whore and pretended that he had been looking out for her interests before she'd had enough and left the room. It was then that she had run into Adam on the elevator, and basically, finally, had her breakdown, crying in his arms.

Though she wouldn't tell him everything that had been going on over the past few days, she knew that Adam could tell that there was more to the story than met the eye. She had taken note of his concerned green eyes looking her over—and not in their usual joking, flirtatious manner, either. They were concerned, concerned because of the toll that whatever it was that she had gotten herself into was already beginning to get to her, and he was afraid she wouldn't be able to deal with it for much longer.

Sighing, Jewel closed her eyes again, ignoring the bright sunlight that streamed into the room through the crack in the curtains, snuggling back against her best friend and her lifeline. Adam didn't judge her, something that she greatly appreciated and admired about the man. As someone who had been judged because of mistakes he had made in the past, Adam was the last person who would look down on her because of an error in judgment. He was her rock, always there for her when she needed him, no questions asked, and always ready to defend her in a pinch when she needed a champion.

It was weird, she mused to herself, how she had never taken notice of how truly fond of her Adam was. Though she had always considered him to be like a brother to her, there had once been a time where she very nearly come close to dating him. But Chris had come into her life then, and Adam had backed off out of respect for their relationship. Even though he was her best friend, and jokingly hinted that he wanted more from their relationship, there was always a part of her who wondered—deep down—how things would have turned out if she had allowed Adam to steal her heart, rather than Chris.

Would he have been her husband? Would he have been as devoted to her happiness as he was now? Would he have turned out like Chris, or would he have remained her knight in shining armor, her protector?

It felt so weird to her, thinking and wondering about so many things that had previously been foreign to her. But this tryst with Hunter, this idea that he had come up with to make Chris as insanely jealous as possible over him, had brought so many new things to life, things that she had not comprehended before.

She wanted Hunter, but at the same time, didn't want him. There had to be some sort of truth to everything that Chris had been saying when he tried to warn her away from the King of Kings. Even though he'd made it clear that she disgusted him and that he would much rather be with Stephanie than with her, he'd obviously cared enough to try to keep her away from Hunter. He would end up using and hurting her, Chris had said, and not give a damn about her feelings in the end, as long as he got what he wanted. He'd already gotten what he'd wanted, she thought to herself wryly. The two of them had sex—more than once—and had Chris nearly out of his mind with jealousy and rage at the mere thought of the two of them together.

A soft groan caught her attention, and she opened her eyes a bit to see Adam stirring slightly, before squeezing her eyes shut once more, willing herself to go back to sleep. The two hadn't done anything the night before, but Adam had just sat and listened to her, even held her as the tears spilled down her cheeks once more, before she finally collapsed against him, wearing one of his old Edge and Christian T-shirts that she had shamelessly swiped from him years ago and occasionally wore to sleep in whenever she'd had a bad day.

As she lay there, trying to be as convincing a sleeper as possible, she felt a hand lightly stroking her hair, then felt Adam's lips press gently against her forehead, and she gave an involuntary sigh of contentment at his pampering. It felt so natural, being here with him, she thought silently, as he continued to lightly stroke her hair, so right, as if it were meant to be.

_I could lie here forever with him…_ she thought drowsily, drifting off to sleep once more. _Just like this…_


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven:**

Instead of his usual morning hustle of waking early, eating a light breakfast, and then engaging in a rigorous workout in the gym, Hunter chose to remain in bed next to Stephanie. His wife had been particularly amorous in the early hours of the morning, after returning to their executive suite after being gone nearly half the day—doing what, he was quite sure he had an idea. She had been with Jericho and, while he had been angry at the thought, he found, to his surprise, that he wasn't as angry as he should have been at her.

Because his mind was on Jewel. His mind had been on Jewel since the moment this whole plan had come together. There was just something so pure about her, so innocent and tantalizing, that it kept him coming back for more, literally salivating every time he thought about her. It wasn't just the sex that attracted him to her, either. It was her personality that was the most attractive thing about her. Not only was she beautiful, but she was virtually everything that Stephanie wasn't. Heart-melting brown eyes, a smile that lit up an entire room, a petite but graceful body, and a personality that shone through to everyone that she met. Stephanie was nice, but most of the time, she was especially gracious to those who benefited her. She was sweetness herself to her father and mother, but her brother Shane saw her for what she truly was—a manipulative bitch who would do anything to get her way, and not care who got hurt in the process. It was part of the reason why he decided to step away from the business that he had been born into, because he refused to work or associate himself with his sister and her husband in any way. Although he couldn't blame Shane for reacting the way he had to Stephanie's ruthless ways, he didn't pretend that it didn't bother him a little bit that Shane would rather prefer to live and work overseas with his family, than continue to work in the company that he loved, because his own baby sister was a scheming little bitch.

But Jewel… As Stephanie lay next to him in bed, he began to feel himself growing hard at the thought of the young woman again. Jewel was a beautiful person with a beautiful and innocent soul, something that would always attract a corrupt bastard like him. He knew it and Jericho knew it, knew that he would somehow find a way to corrupt and hurt her, and that was why he was trying so hard to keep the two of them apart.

But Hunter couldn't stay away. Now that he'd had a taste of her, now that he'd tasted the forbidden fruit, he couldn't stay away. He _wouldn't_ stay away.

He knew it wasn't in her nature to concoct schemes to get what she wanted, and he no longer cared. As long as it hurt Jericho and Stephanie the way they hurt him, he would fuck Jewel senseless if he had to. He would spend every waking moment of every day between her legs if he had to, driving her to countless orgasms and revel in her screaming his name as she did so, as long as it kept fueling those flames of jealousy in his wife and her lover, because of how cruelly they had treated him.

He didn't want to hurt Jewel, but she was in too deep to get out now. He wanted her, craved her, nearly as much as he craved revenge against Jericho and Stephanie, and he would do anything to have it.

Including the person that he was most reluctant of all to hurt.

Jewel awoke the next morning to the delicious aroma of breakfast awaiting her. Her mouth watering at the aroma, she sat up in bed, licking her lips eagerly for a taste of the eggs, sausage, and steak that she could smell being wheeled on a cart into the suite.

"Keep the change, man," she could hear Adam telling the room service staffer, who thanked him profusely before making his way back out, Adam closing the door behind him. As he wheeled the tray into the room, he spotted Jewel sitting up in the bed, and smiled. "Good morning there, sleepyhead."

"Morning. Is that breakfast?" she asked eagerly, earning a chuckle from her fellow Canadian.

"Why, yes, it is. And looking at the way you're eye-humping those trays, it makes me rather glad I ordered enough for two," he said with a grin, one that widened when her stomach rumbled in response and she blushed with embarrassment.

"Shut up," she said back, sitting up and stretching out her muscles. As she stood up and stretched, Adam took note of how his shirt rose up above her knees and hips, even giving him a rather tantalizing peek at her panties before she caught wind of his unashamed staring and yanked the fabric back down and sat back down. "Down, boy."

"What, a guy can't stare at a beautiful lady wearing his shirt after spending the night together?"

She blushed again. "I've been wearing this shirt for years, you dog."

"And I've noticed each and every single one of them. I didn't even complain when you shamelessly swiped that from me. That was my first team shirt, you know."

"I know…and I didn't care then, and don't care now, so there." Sticking her tongue out at him in a rather childish manner, Adam laughed, before moving the tray over to the table, ensuring that Jewel would have to get up and make her way over if she wanted to eat. Removing the tops of the trays off from the plates, they arranged everything on the table, and began to eat. Halfway through their meal, Adam was surprised when Jewel set her fork down, rose from the table, and made her way over to him to sit in his lap.

"What's this all about?" he asked around a mouthful of scrambled eggs, making Jewel wrinkle her nose in distaste.

"Dude, that's disgusting. At least swallow before you start talking."

"I could say the same for you."

"My mommy always told me to never put small things in my mouth."

Gagging and choking on his food as he tried to swallow and laugh at the same time, Adam took a gulp of orange juice to settle himself, before focusing his attention back on his grinning friend. "One thing I've never had any complaints about, love, was the size of my equipment…which you are making very happy by sitting on my lap, by the way. So what is it you'd like for Christmas, young lady?"

Placing her finger against her lips, pretending to think, Jewel kept the charade up for a minute before turning her attention back to her friend, an innocent grin on her face. "As delicious as this meal has been…I'm craving some Canadian bacon for breakfast instead."

Before he could register his shock, Jewel covered his mouth with hers, melding their lips together. The taste of the orange juice on his tongue tasted sweet as their tongues moved together. After savoring the sweet taste of the girl for a moment, Adam broke the kiss, pulling away and fixing his surprised gaze on her. "Not that I'm not grateful for that or anything, Jewel, but…what the hell was that for?"

Jewel stared up at him for a few moments in silence, before uttering a quiet sigh. "One of the things that I've noticed recently was how much I've always cared for you, but was always too shy to express it. Adam, I know how you've felt about me for years and hell, I've felt pretty strongly about you too. For fuck's sake, we both even agreed that if Chris hadn't come into the picture, you and I would've been together. I've been having so many problems with Chris lately, and this whole bullshit with Steph, that it's put a lot into perspective…namely, who really loves and cares about me, and who I should be with."

She ran a hand through his blond hair, and he wanted to close his eyes at the touch. "It's you, Adam. It should've always been you. I can't tell you how long I've wanted to do this with you, how long I've waited to touch you…"

As much as he wanted this to continue, he had to pull away again. "What about Chris, though? You love him more than you've ever loved me."

She leaned back with a snort of disdain. "Yeah, I love Chris, but I'm pretty sure the feeling isn't mutual, since he's always out plowing precious Stephanie," she said with a note of bitterness in his voice. "So why should I keep sacrificing my own happiness with a man who doesn't give a damn about me? I know you've wanted this for so long, Adam; don't bother trying to fight me on this, because you know you'll give in. You'll give me anything I want, as long as it makes me happy…and this is what I want."

"Your husband…"

"_You're_ my husband. That's the way it should be, the way it should've always been. You're mine, Addy. Now make me yours."

With a look of stubborn determination on her face, Jewel reached down to grasp his hands in hers, then, looking him dead in the eyes, brown eyes fixated on green, she brought his hands up, still clasped within hers, and placed them on her breasts, holding them there, palming them. He uttered a soft growl of approval and unclasped their fingers, his hands continuing where hers left off, palming her breasts and molding them in his hands, bringing a gasp forth from her lips. She adjusted herself so that she was straddling him, her legs on either side of the chair, and him between her legs. With another hunger-filled growl that had nothing to do with food, he removed his hand from one breast and replaced it with his mouth, licking and teasing her through her shirt, reveling in her gasps and moans of approval. His other hand continued to fondle her other breast, rolling the nipple and pinching it, while she continued to writhe against him, little pants and moans of pleasure escaping from her lips. "Adam…" she gasped, squirming against him, her wet core brushing against his straining erection, driving him insane with need. "Oh, my god…Adam…"

Any other form of protest about this being wrong that he might have made was lost in his fog of desire, as Jewel writhed against him and moaned his name. Moving his hand from her breast and continuing to lavish the other with his mouth and tongue, Adam moved his now-free hand down her body to grasp her backside and bringing her up against him with such force that it took her breath away. He then took that same hand and moved it around to her damp core, where he began to tease her clit through her panties, the action causing her to gasp again and throw her head back, moaning and whimpering with need.

Having lavished enough attention on her perfect breasts and craving more of the taste of her mouth, Adam removed his mouth and hand from her breasts and captured her lips in another possessive kiss, his hand moving to her back to hold her against him. She returned his kiss, their tongues molding and twining together, each one savoring the taste of the other. Having had enough of her panties getting in the way of what he wanted, he blindly pushed the intruding fabric to the side, where his fingers found his idea of Paradise. Her hot, wet heat enveloped him, and they both groaned in unison as his fingers rubbed her swollen clit. Jewel arched up against him with another moan, exposing her throat to his hungry gaze, tangling her hands through his hair, scraping them through his scalp, her hips thrusting against him, begging for more.

She moaned, he growled, and two fingers slid inside her, teasing and stretching her, preparing her for what was to come. All the while, she writhed against him, grinding her hips against his shaft, causing more growls of pleasure to escape from his mouth. "Adam, my God…" she cried out, her eyes nearly glazing over from arousal. "Feels so good…please, I'm so close…Adam, I want you… _Please._"

Adam was nearly ready to cum himself, just from the feel of her against him. But he wanted, no, _needed_ more. He had to have more. Removing his fingers from their snug home, he moved his hand out of her panties and worked himself free of his pants, dimly aware that Jewel was sliding her shirt and panties off as well, and she straddled him once again, as he took hold of his aching cock and rubbed it against her core. She shivered and whimpered, gasping his name out time and again as she drew ever closer to the edge. "I need you," she gasped out, her hips grinding against his cock even faster, his cock pressing against her core with each torturous movement. "I need you, Adam, fucking _now!_"

The final words were choked out, as she arched against him once more, head thrown back and eyes closed, trembling as she came, her tightness convulsing as she erupted.

That was all that he needed; his control broke. With a frenzied growl, Adam gripped her hips, rose her up and sank her down onto his thick, rigid length, the sensation causing Jewel to moan once more as he drove deep within her. "Holy _fuck!_" she wailed, her nails digging into his shoulders as she tried to take all of him inside her. "So deep..." she moaned, nuzzling his face, "so deep…"

Adam gritted his teeth to bite back a roar, stilling his motions so that he would refrain from hurting her in any way. But damn, if he wasn't nearly ecstatic at the feeling of finally, _finally_, being inside of her. After a few moments, when he was sure that she had adjusted to his size, his hands made their way back to her hips and he raised her slowly, withdrawing little by little, before sinking back home. He did this a few times, slowly withdrawing to give her more time to adjust, before sliding back inside, going in deeper and deeper with each thrust. When she moaned for more, he took it as encouragement and began to speed his thrusts, gripping her hips, digging his nails into the tender flesh and pounded away at her, forcing her to ride him, impaling her on his hardness and reveling in her response, drawing savage pleasure from her wails and moans. He knew that because she was so much smaller than he, and so tight, that he was sure that he was hurting her at least somewhat, but Jewel, the little trooper that she was, didn't seem to mind at all, even commanding him to go harder and deeper.

Her moans escalated as he drove upwards into her, and she progressively grew more vocal as she rode him. Finally, he stood to his feet with a growl, hands cupping her ass, and began pounding into her while standing up for a few brief seconds, before making his way over to the bed and gently laying her down across it and withdrew from her.

Jewel whined in disappointment when he slipped out of her wetness, but she was moaning in ecstasy once more, as he flipped her over and drove himself into her tightness seconds later. Her hands reached out, clawing for something, _anything_, to hold on to as he pounded into her wet heat without mercy. "Yes," she hissed out between gritted teeth, feeling herself beginning to tighten up once more. She could feel Adam's hot, piercing green eyes on her, so she rose up onto her hands and knees, bouncing back eagerly against his thrusts. A growl, a curse, and Adam was pressing himself against the ridge of her spine, fisting a hand into her dark hair as he hammered into her. "Adam, _yes!_"

Sweet heavens, this was too amazing to be true, he mused to himself, his eyes closing with a gasp and a moan, driving into her sweetness time and again, angling himself so that he was brushing against her sweet spot with each thrust, making her writhe and wail with agony and ecstasy. This was pure heaven, something that he had been dreaming about from the very moment he had laid eyes on her; all the years he had spent in the background, watching her fawn over a man who would never love her as strongly nor as deeply as he had, waiting for his opportunity.

Now that he had it, there was no way in hell he was squandering it.

He withdrew, flipping her over back onto her back, and drove inside her once more, staring right into her eyes, into her very soul, as he drove the two of them closer and closer to climax. The look of absolute bliss on her face as he loomed over her was too much to bear, and he couldn't resist lowering himself down to her and capturing her mouth in a sweet yet possessive kiss, a romantic gesture that he hoped would convey every single ounce of feeling that he had for her, even as he drove into her.

Jewel reached up and tangled her fingers in his damp, frazzled hair, and pulled him down for another kiss, her breath coming in harsh pants now as he drilled her, trying to brand himself into her very soul. "Adam," she breathed, her pants escalating, her sheath tightening up even more. "My Adam. Oh my god, yes! Yes! _Yes! Adam!_"

She came apart on a wail, breaking and shattering around him, her legs shaking and quivering as she rode the waves of bliss underneath him. Frenzied beyond all sort of control now, Adam continued to move, driving himself inside her relentlessly, moaning and growling and snarling with each thrust. Blessedly, he came apart a few thrusts later, roaring as her contracting sheath spurred him on and ripped his seed from him, shooting deep inside her.

Exhausted and boneless, Adam collapsed on top of Jewel, who wrapped her arms around him and pressed a sweaty kiss to the top of his forehead. They remained like this for a few seconds, each trying to regain their breath as well as their thoughts. Finally, Adam broke the silence first, glancing up at Jewel to see her face. "Are you okay?" he asked, managing to drum up enough strength to prop himself up on one elbow to get a better look at her.

"I've just been served two earth-shattering orgasms from a guy who's been in love with me forever, and had some beyond amazing sex to boot; I'm freaking _perfect_."

Chuckling breathlessly, Adam rose up to meet her, and green eyes met sparkling brown. "I didn't hurt you, did I?"

She snorted. "Please, you didn't do anything I didn't want."

"That doesn't answer my question."

She gave him a dry look, and stuck her tongue out at him. "My cooch is wrecked, but in a completely good way," she said, earning another chuckle. "But in all seriousness, I'm good. I'm great, actually. I don't think I'll be walking for the next three weeks, but otherwise, I'm stellar." She then reached her hands up to cup his face. "You didn't hurt me, Addy. Really."

"You sure? Because trust me, I've never been that rough with anyone, and you're so small and tight…"

"Most guys normally get off on that sort of thing."

"I'm not saying I didn't get off on it, smartass; I'm saying that maybe I could've hurt you because I wasn't careful or anything."

Shaking her head lightly, Jewel pulled him down for another kiss, pressing her forehead gently against his. "You didn't hurt me," she insisted. "Really, I'm okay, there's nothing to worry about." She then gave him a tired, albeit sly, grin. "But holy crap man, you were amazing."

Adam smirked down at her. "That's because I'm the Rated R Superstar, babe; I'm amazing at everything I do." Rolling her eyes, Jewel didn't even have the energy to punch him in the shoulder to bring him back down to reality the way they normally did, so she just stuck her tongue out at him yet again.

"I've got something for your tongue there, little missy."

"Oh please, you don't even have the strength to pull out, let alone endure a blowjob."

He paused a moment, seemingly in thought. "Damn, you got me," he finally admitted with a chuckle, before settling himself down in her arms, her legs still cradling his body, and his member still inside her. "I was hoping you might've had something left for round two."

Her head shot up, and she fixed him with an incredulous look. "You _can't_ be serious."

"Gotcha." With a grin, Adam slowly withdrew his spent member before laying in her arms again, silence enveloping the suite once more. After a few more minutes of silence, Adam piped up once again. "Hey, you gonna finish your breakfast?"

"Just shut up and bask in this afterglow with me, you jerk face."

Adam awoke with a start in bed, his green eyes wide with surprise. Looking around the bedroom of his suite, his gaze zeroed in on the sleeping girl next to him…who wasn't exactly sleeping any longer, but was staring at him with sleep-glazed eyes. "Addy, what's the matter?" she asked sleepily, rubbing her eyes.

"You won't _believe_ the dream I just had, kid…"


End file.
